Violets
by dramaqueen-144
Summary: Another Avian-Human hybrid was made but was sperated from the flock and her twin brother at one month old. At age fifteen she seeks to find her brother but after years of being on her own can she learn to work in a closely bonded flock.
1. The Lone Ranger

**Chapter One- The Lone Ranger**

Flying was my one escape. I loved to soar in the air. It made me forget everyone who was chasing me and those who I had to chase myself. But as flew towards the place that had once been my prison I felt nervous. Would people be waiting for me? Who remained there? What remained there? I had almost talked myself out of going there but I had to I needed information. I was head towards the school and I needed to find my brother.

When I was a baby my brother and I had been taken to the school. We had Avian DNA grafted into us so we had wings and other things related to birds. There had been another girl who was part Avian too and four more had joined us in time. I had never gotten to see the five others. A day after I had the DNA grafted I was separated from the other two. The white coats at the school had decided that my DNA was the strongest. I was tested on more than the other Avian-Human Hybrids. I was also a test to see if we operated best as a flock or on our own. My brother never knew who I was but I knew who he was. The white coats showed me everything about his life and the other hybrids. Then they escaped with Jeb Bachelder. When that happen I was allowed out of isolation and was free to roam the rest of the school. I had been kept in a small part of the school in isolation the only people I ever saw were the white coats

Up until a couple of months ago, I had heard nothing of my brother. Then I heard the youngest of the flock was back in the school. I was put in isolation again. A few days later all the rest of the flock had been captured. I tried to see my brother but was stopped by the people guarding me. The flock escaped and for the second time I was left behind. I followed them through a blog they were keeping and from what the scientists were saying. They had been captured again but again they had escaped before I could talk to them. Then came the collapse of I-tex.

All the experiments were being 'retired'. I was left in the hands of one of the younger scientists to be killed, Miranda Collins. She had been the only scientist who had been kind to me in my whole life. I went to sleep the night before I was supposed to be killed. I awoke in a cupboard with a note and enough food for a few weeks from Miranda saying she couldn't kill me and to stay in the cupboard until everyone left for the big I-tex meeting in Germany and then to escape. The minute I was sure they had all left I bolted. For the past three months I had been flying around trying to survive.

A couple of days earlier I was sleeping on the ground of a field of thick grass because I had nowhere better to crash. When I woke up there was a newspaper dated three months earlier lying a foot or so away from me. On the front page, there was a detailed article on the fall of I-tex. The flock has been at the heart of it. I had really fallen behind being on the run and all that. So I set of for the school to find my brother and the flock.

I wasn't quite sure what I was going to say to them. I could picture how stupid I would look. _"Hi I'm your long lost twin sister and get this I'm part bird too... You're wondering why I wasn't raised with you. Yeah the school is even more sadistic than you thought." _Yup, most definitely stupid. It wasn't just meeting my brother I was worried about. It was the rest of the flock, particularly Maximum Ride. I was insanely jealous of her; she got to grow up being like a sister to _my _brother whom I was separated from when I was a month old and had only ever seen through a window or in photo's. She had a proper family and a flock. I hated her so much. I didn't know or care that much about the other four flock members I just called them, the blind guy, the chatty one, Sir-farts-a-lot and the mind reader.

I had reached the school now. I landed softly on my feet about 100 feet away from the building. It looked run-down, like no-one had been in it for months. Three months to be exact. I walked up to the building and pushed open the main door.

"Hello?" I called my voice echoed around the school. No-one answered. I never thought I'd be back here at least not on my own terms. I walked the white, dusty, halls that were coated in spider webs. My breathing spiked up in fear. I walked slowly, cautiously through the school. I went into the room where all the monitors for the security cameras were typing in a code at the metal door. The monitors were working but all of them were still, I was alone.

I left the room and went into the once brightly lit room that was now dark. I flicked on the light switch and went over to the large central computer. I turned it on and waited for it to boot up. I typed in the password that I had seen the white coats type in. I knew all of I-tex's passwords; I had a photographic memory and in the cupboard I was hiding in there were lists and lists of passwords, for the school, the institute and all of I-tex. They were quite careless actually. To just leave them lying around like that.

I clicked on a folder labelled _Human-Avian Hybrids _and then another that said _Experiment F6598235B. _I typed in another password and waited for the file to load, it gave me all the information I needed.

**Experiment F6598235B**

**Human- Avian Hybrid**

**Born: 30****th**** January 1994**

**Taken: 20****th**** February 1994**

**DNA: Grafted 25****th**** February 1994**

**Escaped: 6****th**** June 2004**

**Father: Unknown**

**Mother: Christina Phillips**

**Siblings: Fraternal twin sister Experiment F6598235A also taken on 20****th**** February 1994 and Avian DNA grafted 25****th**** February 1995. Separated on 26****th**** February 1995. **

**Known to flock members as: Fang**

**Possible locations: Colorado, House of agent Anne Walker in Washington DC, House of Dr Valencia Martinez in Arizona. **

After that there were a lot of test results and pictures, videos and audio. I printed the file for proof to show to Fang that we were related. I opened my file it was very similar but had a lot of notes about being in a flock verses being solo. I could tell them which one I would have preferred. I found the location of Dr Martinez's house. I also _borrowed_ a considerable amount of cash from the school's stock. Let's just call it payment for the last fourteen years. I was starting to get quite tired. I would need to sleep and soon. Since I wasn't up for sleeping in my old dog crate, I left the school quickly and found a tree that would have to do. I drifted into unconsciousness and let sleep wash over me.

I dreamt of the school again, it was a reoccurring nightmare that never left me. I dreamt I was a little baby again in pain from the graft being torn away from my brother the one familiar thing in my life. I loved him and was scared. I started to cry loudly. I awoke with a start and almost fell out of the tree I was sleeping in. I wiped the tears from my eyes. I hardly ever cried but recently I had been waking up with tears streaming down my face after having that dream. It scared me a little. I guess all the years of abuse were coming back to haunt me psychologically. Today was the start of my new life, today I would find Fang. I stopped at Mc Donald's on my way eating three Big Macs, two large fries and a chocolate sundae. I was starved. I flew south trying to figure out what to say.

I flew almost all day; I broke into an empty house by picking the lock. It was stocked with food to spend the night in. I slept in a bed for the first time in my life. It felt as sort as candyfloss. All my life up until three months ago I slept in dog crates and after that in trees of on the ground. I made myself Bacon and eggs for breakfast and watch a bit of TV before flying out again taking some food for the road. I flew over a high school and hovered above slightly watching normality. How my life should have been. If I'd had a non-crack addict mom and didn't have wings. I watched a group of girls talking and laugh. Maybe I'd be like them care-free and only concerned about school or dating or rock stars. I sighed and flew on before someone noticed the flying-girl.

When I got to some forests I sat in a tree and ate some lunch. I knew it wouldn't be too much further to Dr Martinez's house. Maybe three hours at the most. I would make it by sundown. I'd do a quick check to see if the flock were there and if not I'd set out to find them. If they were there I wasn't sure what I'd do. I'd probably make it up on the spot. I was good at that. When I had consumed my meagre lunch I sat for awhile looking out at the forest. I wasn't sure what I'd do after I found Fang. Would I stay on my own like the lone ranger I was or stick with the flock. Would they even accept me? I just had the worst feeling that something bad would happen. Knowing me I wouldn't get along with any of them and make bone-headed decisions like always. Was it even worth it? Maybe I should leave Fang in peace and leave the country and just survive somewhere overseas.

Eventually I put all doubts out of my mind. I told myself if I didn't do this I would always regret it and wonder what if. I did that enough already. I didn't need another to add to my ever-growing list of what-ifs. I took to the air again stretching out my dark feathered wings to their full thirteen-foot wingspan. Flying felt free and careless. The ground was terrifying.

I flew for another two hours when I saw a large blob in the distance I flew towards it and it came towards me. It turned into the shape of a tall and thin winged boy, whose wingspan was even wider than mine. As I got closer I started to see myself in him, same black hair, same dark eyes, same features but his were more masculine, same olive skin and the same black feathered wings. My carbon copy with a few tweaks. After fourteen years of missing him and watching him from afar I was finally standing (well hovering) face to face with my brother. The moment I had dreamt for all my life had arrived. Fang was here.

"Who are you, are you a clone of me gone wrong?" he asked scathingly. I shook my head. I pulled the files out of my bag and handed them to him. He just stared at them.

"I'm experiment F6598235A or as I prefer to be called, Violet. I'm your twin sister." I said sincerely and waited for the judgement. The moment of truth had arrived.


	2. The almost human lie dectector

**Chapter Two- The almost human lie detector**

Fang stared at me looking shocked.

"I don't believe you." He said simply and lunged at me. I swooped down to dodge him.

"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled avoiding his next attack gripping the files tightly as they were my only proof. "Read the files. I have proof!"

"If you're my sister, where have you been the last fourteen years?"

"I was in isolation; my DNA was supposedly the strongest. I was tested on more than you. It was also a test to see if Avian-Human hybrids worked best on their own or in a flock. Believe me I would have been with you if I could." He slowed to a stop. I took advantage of this and moved a couple of feet back. Fang looked confused.

"Err, can I have the files?" he mumbled. I hesitated slightly.

"I won't attack you." He said. He was telling the truth. Yeah along with the wings and the photographic memory I'm also an almost human lie detector. Whenever the white-coats said "this won't hurt a bit" or "this won't affect you in any way at all" the lie detector part of me would tell me it was a massive fib. I flew over to Fang and handed him the files. I flew backwards a little just in case he changed his mind on the whole attacking me thing. He opened them and an awkward silence fell on us as he flipped through the pages.

"I don't believe this. How can it be possible? I've never seen you or even heard of you." He said.

"I was always close when we were in the school. Only ever a few rooms away." I knew I was starting get through to him when he said 'I don't believe this' it wasn't as much of the truth as before.

"Maybe you could possibly be my sister. I just don't know what to believe. It seems too strange."

"And having wings is not. Face it, our whole lives are strange."

"Come back to the flock with me, I'll let them be the judges." He turned around and flew off I followed him. The trip was silent and awkward. What exactly do you say to your recently found twin-brother? After about an hour of uncomfortable flying we reached a house that I recognised from aerial photos, that belongs to Dr Valencia Martinez. Maximum Ride was waiting with her flock on the porch staring at me like I was some sort of zoo attraction. The rest of the flock, except a strawberry blond boy, were staring too. It made me edgy. I wanted to turn around and fly away. But I knew I had to stay. How much longer would I have lasted on my own anyway?

"She claims to be my sister who was separated from me at the school. It's very far-fetched but she does have evidence. I thought I'd bring her back for the rest of you to judge."

"She could be from the school!" Maximum said.

"The school is closed. I was there and it's empty!" I protested my temper flaring up.

"Likely story!" she snarled back.

"Why don't we just give her a chance? There's only one of her." The strawberry blond said. I felt shocked. That was really only the second time in my life someone had been kind to me. I wasn't used to it.

"She's not from the school. She truly is Fang's sister." Piped up a little blonde girl. I recognised her to be the mind reader. Figures.

"See, Angel can see it her mind. You must be hungry. I'll make us some dinner." The strawberry blond said to me. He was telling the truth. I flew down to him and followed him inside.

"I'm Iggy." He introduced himself. The blind one.

"I'm Violet. Why did you stand up for me?" he looked slightly confused.

"Uh I'm not sure. I guess I just think we should give you the benefit of the doubt. You've obviously been through as much, if not more, than we have." We reached a little kitchen. Iggy started pulling out pots and pans.

"Well, I'm grateful." I admitted. It amazed me how he could find everything without sight "Do you need a hand?"

"Don't you mean an eye... or two?" he laughed. "Can you cook?"

"A little bit just survival 101. I had to teach myself. I've been on the run for three months. Mostly over fires."

"I know how that feels, char grilled rat. Yuck."

"I had that a few nights ago. I couldn't find much else"

"I feel your pain. Can you cook pasta?"

"Sure."

"Make sure you do heaps." I found a large pot and started boiling up water. I could hear hushed voices coming from outside.

"I bet they're talking about me." I said sadly watching the water.

"You'd win that bet." Iggy said sound slightly annoyed. I added the pasta to the water.

"So why exactly were you separated from us?" Iggy asked.

"It was some kind of test, to see if we worked better in a flock or solo. I didn't really understand the technicalities."

"Pity, it would have been cool to have you in the flock. I mean you're around my age and you don't spend the whole day making out with someone like Max and Fang do."

"What?!" I shrieked. Iggy looked taken aback. "Maximum and Fang are a couple!" I thought back to all the time I had felt jealous towards Maximum because of the fact she got to grow up having Fang as her brother when I, his biological sister, had never even met him. Now I knew it wasn't all brother-sister between them. Far from it. I cringed at what I had really been jealous of. _Ew._

*~*~*~*

After an excruciatingly awkward dinner, Angel, the mind reader had offered me the spare bed in the room she was staying in for the night. I hadn't been sure what I would do after talking to Fang so I accepted. Maximum shot daggers at Angel, Fang looked confused but Iggy smiled. After Angel had fallen asleep I sat under the covers with a flashlight and read my old journal entries. When I turned eight I decided that I should start keeping some sort of log so that whenever I escaped I could turn it into a book and expose the school. Now that I thought about it, it was sort of useless. Who would ever want to publish something written by a mutant but I had gotten into the habit of writing it so I kept going.

I read an entry from the day the flock returned to the school three and a half months ago.

_Life sucks right now. Even more than usual. Why you, my non-existent readers, ask. Well besides the normal, there is the fact that_

_The flock is back in the school; therefore I am confined to one room. _

_Ter Borcht, my _favourite_ person in the world, came to visit me._

_Today I found out about the by-half plan, a holocaust that will get rid of most of the world's population. _

_I and all the other bird kids are first on the list to be 'retired' within the next day or so. _

_I have a clone and no I'm not talking about my estranged twin brother. _

_That's right folks Marian Jansen the director of I tex is a wannabe Hitler. No it's worse than that, she only wants to leave about a billion people alive. It's a super holocaust. Only a super race consisting of the world's strongest and smartest people will be left. This begs the question as to why I'm going to be killed, sorry retired. I don't mean to brag or anything but I along with all the other bird kids am stronger than fully grown men and highly intelligent despite very little education. I guess it's because I'm from crack addict trash and have no proven life span. So tomorrow I'm slated for execution. Ter Borcht being the homicidal maniac he is came and told me gleefully earlier this morning. I had been locked in my dog cage since very early and hadn't had breakfast yet so I already wasn't in the best mood. He strode in to my room/prison._

"_You are going to be terminated." He said._

"_When you speak like that it's definitely not going to stop the Arnold Schwarzenegger jokes." I sniggered. He scowled but then twisted his mouth into a cruel, diabolical smile._

"_Ve vill see who has ze last laugh you insolent little experiment."_

"_I think I will if you're the one who's killing me. Especially if you're dressed like that."_

"_You haf many flaws. Ze director has decided for all of your kind to be destroyed."_

"_What flaws? You mean the fact I can never keep my dog cage tidy or that I don't have much of a fashion sense. I mean my fashion sense is way better than yours and I'm not horrendously overweight. Too much McDonalds eh Borshy." A vein started to pop out on his forehead._

"_All ze obsolete life forms are being terminated and replaced. Zere is somebody I vuld like you to meet." The door opened and an exact replica of me walked through the door except she was a little more muscular and looked heavier. Kind of how I pictured myself without the bird DNA _

"_Aw jeez, not a clone. What will you crazy scientists come up with next? Time travel? Zombies? You need to stop taking ideas out of movies. You'll get sued." I said. Ter Borcht ignored that._

"_Meet Violet 2.0. She's you're superior in every way. Alzough she has no Avian DNA she retains your photographic memory and ability to detect lies. She can run longer and faster zan you do and can lift heavier weights. She has a 224 IQ. She is styled in the form of our super boy Omega. She along with Omega vill lead the new super-race into the post by-half plan world."_

"_And yet I bet she doesn't have my sparkling wit."_

"_She is much more obedient zan you and performs every task perfectly ven she is asked. I vill leave you two alone to get acquainted ville I go interview the other failures like you." Ter Borcht smirked and left the room. _

"_Prepare to die. You are obsolete. I will rule the world some day."_

"_What, you expect you and perfect boy can rule together as king and queen genetically modified." Violet 2.0 looked down at her feet. "Oh my god that's actually what you think is going to happen. That's hilarious. You love super-boy. You clones crack me up."_

"_What have you got to laugh about? You're going to die tomorrow. As of tomorrow I will be the only one of us alive. You winged freak."_

"_That's the best insult you've got. I laugh because one of the little pleasures left in my miserable life is annoying ter Borcht and now you. Plus you both react so well. One final thing before I start to ignore you, I will always be the original Violet and I hope you never forget that."_

That entry always made me smile. I admired who I was back then, able to laugh in the face of death. Things had changed since then. I switched off my flashlight and let myself drift off into a confusing dream where I was trapped in a fax machine factory.


	3. An awkward Breakfast

**Chapter Three- An awkward breakfast**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson owns Maximum ride and I sadly do not **

After a bizarre and confusing dream about running through shelves and shelves of fax machines, I woke up and found a towel and spare clothes sitting at the foot of my bed. I blinked trying to wake myself up. Was I dreaming? Someone was caring for me. I sat staring at the clothes and the towel before something clicked into place and I picked them up and went in search of a shower.

After my shower I felt a lot better. I hadn't had access to water to bathe in other than lakes for a long time and it was not the best feeling having a layer of dirt covering me. I combed out my hair so it wasn't a birds nest and went back to its normal straightness. I stretched out my wings as much as I could in the tiny bathroom to move them around a little bit. After a whole night of them being curled up tightly they felt very stiff. I folded them back in and went into the dining room where I could hear people talking and eating. As soon as I crossed the threshold of the room everyone went silent.

I felt my cheeks burn as I sat down at the table. I said a quiet good morning and I kept my head down as quickly started serving myself food. I ate in silence as I felt everyone's eyes burning holes in me. Jeb Batchelder finally cleared his throat and spoke,

"Well Violet I must say, it's good to see you aren't dead." I dropped the piece of toast I was holding.

"You thought I was dead?" I asked. It was funny that I was surprised by this. I thought I had gone through enough crazy stuff to not get surprised by anything.

"Back when you both came out of the graft surgery." He nodded at fang when he said this "you were both recovering in the same room, I was watching Max while Ter Borcht and the Director were with Violet and Fang. They told us the next morning that she had gone into cardiac arrest overnight and was unable to be revived. I was slightly suspicious because it was the first and only failure of a human avian hybrid. There was always a closed section of the school that only a special group of scientists called the V team were authorised to be in. They said it was too dangerous for those who weren't trained to handle a particular specimen."

"You have got to be kidding me." Maximum muttered.

"Makes sense." Iggy shrugged. Fang stayed silent and stared down at his plate. The awkward silence fell on the table again. The only sounds were chewing and the scraping of knives and forks on plates.

"So the _flock _is going to go to the CSM headquarters so we can decide what our next move will be about global warming." Maximum said. The flock bit was emphasised to tell me that I was not invited.

"Whatever I'll just go flying or something." I said

"You should come Violet, it'll be cool. It doesn't matter if she comes, right Max?" Iggy asked. Maximum glared at me and I glared straight back. I knew what her answer would be.

"Nah it's alright Iggy. I'd rather be out in the sunshine than being cooped up in a stuffy board-room. Thanks for breakfast." I stood up and took my plate out to the kitchen. From there I went out into the back garden. I took a running start, flicked out my wings and launched myself into the air. I streaked up higher and higher until I was flying above the clouds. I flew east and after a while I found myself floating above the Grand Canyon. I dropped inconspicuously into a tree and joined a group of tourists, keeping my wings folded in tightly. I wandered around the canyon for a while marvelling at it before my stomach started to growl. I sauntered off in search of food.

I found a restaurant where I ordered the usual amount of food. A plate of garlic bread, a pasta dish, a steak, a lobster, a large sundae for desert and a soda or two to have with it. The waiter gave me a weird look and scurried back into the kitchen. A few minutes later he returned with the manager. This wasn't the first time I had been questioned about the amount of food I ordered.

"You appeared to have ordered a lot of food for such a young girl, our portions are quite large. Are you waiting for someone?" the manager asked.

"Nope it's just me, and before you ask yes I can pay." I flashed a large wad of I tex money. "If you bring me my food without any more questions there will be a rather large bonus in it for you." It had been the first time I could afford to pay a manager to stop asking me questions. Usually it took a lot longer to get them off my back.

"Of course ma'am, your food will be brought out as soon as possible."

"Thank you." They left me in peace until they brought out my garlic bread. The meal was good and apart from the first little conversation the service was too. I paid and flew out into the sweltering Arizona afternoon. I flew back to Dr Martinez's house using my memory to follow my exact path back. I landed on the grass softly and went into the house. The first person I found was Iggy cooking dinner in the kitchen.

"Hey Iggy, how was the CSM?" I greeted him.

"Alright, full of global warming stuff. Slightly boring."

"Global warming is an important issue... I think. I don't know that much about it."

"You should ask Fang. He's Mr. Anti-global warming."

"It might be a bit awkward. I've barely had a proper conversation with him."

"Well maybe global warming's the subject you need to use to get him talking. If you can stand the three hour lecture. What did you get up to today?"

"I flew over to the grand canyon and hung out there for a while."

"No way, there is no way you could get from here to the grand canyon and stay there for a few hours and come back in about ... six hours."

"What can I say I'm a quick flyer."

"Well I still don't believe you. Tomorrow, I'll race you."

"Bring it on."

"Cool, so tonight we are making a lasagne."

"We?"

"Would you rather sit in the lounge with the others most of whom hate your guts and it be all awkward or get cooking lessons from me, the chef extraordinaire."

"I guess I'll take the lessons from a conceited cook rather than sit through the discomfort. Just tell me what to do boss."

"Start dicing up that onion. I don't want to do it because I'm too manly to cry" I burst out laughing and so did he.

I wasn't quite sure how much I learnt in that 'lesson' but it was the most fun I had ever had in my life especially when we started having a cheese fight by pelting each other with grated cheese. The final product turned out fine anyway. We ended up choosing to do the dishes so we could dispose of the evidence. We stayed in the kitchen talking long after we were done.

"Well grasshopper I'll admit you have done well." Iggy said.

"Thanks... sensei. This was fun. I have never laughed that hard."

"I'm guessing you haven't laughed a lot." He steered the conversation in a more serious direction.

"No, not really." I mumbled, so the others wouldn't hear. Talking about this stuff with Iggy was more easy than I could ever have imagined but I didn't want the others knowing.

"What did they do to you?"

"Same things as you, just more frequently and worse." I winced at the memories.

"You're safe now." he wasn't lying. I had never felt so safe before. I fell asleep easily that night full of pleasant food and thoughts. Too bad it wouldn't last.

*~*~*~*

I awoke to white, pristine tiles and the smell of antiseptic. I was in a lab tied to a surgical table. My mouth was duct taped shut. I screamed and struggled against the restraints, but they were too tight and my screams were muffled. A white coat shuffled into the room.

"Ter Borcht will operate soon." No! Anyone but Ter Borcht, I made fun of him but me tied up and him with free rein of a scalpel was one of my worst nightmares. I struggled harder if that was possible. Ter Borcht entered the room with a scalpel in one hand and a syringe in the other.

"You escaped me vunce, it von't happen again. Time is up." I screamed as loud as possible as he moved the needle closer to my arm, I struggled against the restraints. It was almost touching my arm. An inch away...half an inch...it was as close as it could get. In a second it would pierce my skin.

My scream was muffled by my pillow as I jolted back into consciousness. I sat up in bed.

"It...was...just...a...dream." I gasped to myself. It had been so vivid, so real. I hurried out of the room so I could recover somewhere else without waking Angel. My nightmares were often bad but I had never had one as vivid as that. I often had a suspicion I was dreaming but this was something different, I had _smelled_ antiseptic. Even though I knew I was awake I was having trouble telling myself it wasn't real. I was battling with the theory they had somehow taken me from by bed and returned me within the space of a couple of hours.

I sat in the kitchen on the floor against a cabinet trying to calm myself down with my head in my hands.

"Are you alright?" I snapped my head up. Fang was standing in the door frame.

"Fine." I breathed.

"Nightmare?" he walked over to the jug and started filling it.

"Ter Borcht was going to operate on me. It was vivid and real, I could even smell the antiseptic cleaners. It just freaked me out a bit." The jug boiled over.

"Uh, do you want hot cocoa?" Fang asked hesitantly.

"Sure, thanks." He made them quickly and handed me mine. We sat at the dining room table. I remembered Iggy's advice on global warming.

"Um, Iggy was telling me about global warming. I know it's a threat to the environment but I'm not sure what it's really about, do you think you could explain it to me?"

Iggy wasn't kidding when he said Fang could go on for hours about global warming. It ended up being an hour long conversation including a slideshow from his laptop. After that I said I needed to get back to bed. As I started to doze off my mind was spinning with climate change and ice caps melting but I was glad for one thing. I had just bonded with my brother.


	4. BFFs

**Chapter 4- BFFs**

The wind was whipping through my hair as I flew wildly for the finish line that was marked out by a rope between two trees. Iggy and I were neck and neck. I flapped my wings extra hard to beat him. I couldn't lose this bet. My extra effort payed off and I was pushed forward a couple of inches ahead of him. I hit the rope and it fell of the tree.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. Iggy stopped without the rope to stop him he had kept flying until he heard me.

"So I'm guessing you won?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yep and that means you have to do all the annoying jobs while cooking like peeling and chopping up vegetables."

"I can handle that." he grinned at me. It was quite eerie how he could tell where I was without seeing me. "Come on let's make the most of the nice afternoon, unless it's clouded over."

"Because it gets cloudy in Arizona" I said sarcastically "No it's still fine."

"Ok well you lead the way." I gave him a weird look which he of course didn't see. Why was he being so casual about losing? I pushed it too the back of my mind and we set off in search of a quiet park. After about ten minutes of looking I found a peaceful little forest clearing. I tapped the back of Iggy's hand.

"Found somewhere." I grabbed his hand to pull him down into the clearing. His skin was quite soft. When we landed I flopped down on the grass. Iggy sat down beside me.

"I wished I brought sunglasses." I mused

"You don't own sunglasses." Iggy quipped back

"True, but I could have taken yours."

"Cause we're BFFs and share everything?"

"Yeah, I mean not the share everything but the best friend thing." Iggy smiled

"I guess your right grasshopper even if it really cheesy."

"You're annoying did you know that."

"We're BFFs you have to put up with it."

"Shut up." he followed my request... for a few minutes.

"So did you know that flock has started to mutate?" Iggy asked

"No have you grown a third arm or something?"

"Nope, it's like powers and stuff."

"Oh that. I started mutating when I was four."

"Aren't you little miss ahead of the times? What can you do?"

"I've got a photographic memory and I'm like a lie detector."

"Aww crap so I can't ever lie to you and you'll remember everything I'll ever do."

"What are everyone else's powers/mutations?"

"Let's see, I can feel colour by touch and see things on a white background."

"That's so cool."

"Yeah it really helps, um Max has a voice in her head, it kind of guides her and gives her advice, and she can breathe underwater so can Fang and Angel. Fang can blend in with his surroundings and become almost invisible as long as he stays still. Nudge is magnetic and she can feel the past when she touches something it's really hard to explain. Gazzy can mimic any voice and he can fart gas."

"Ew that is disgusting."

"You're _such_ a girl. Anyway Angel hit the jackpot or something she can read minds and control them and she can talk to fish. It's strange; she got a shark to stop attacking us."

"I knew she could read minds but I didn't know she could control them. I'll have to be careful from now on." There had been a question I had wanted to ask Iggy for a few days. Now felt like the right moment.

"Iggy, how did you become blind." His face went kind of stiff and stony. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. You don't have to tell me." I backtracked.

"No it's fine; it's just a tough subject for me to talk about." I reached over and put my hand on top of his in a comforting gesture. He shut his unseeing eyes and continued "When I was younger I was getting surgery to improve my night vision and something went wrong. That's all they told me." We sat in silence, unlike other silences I had sat through in the past few days it wasn't awkward.

"c'mon let's go back home." Iggy finally said. His voice sounded a little strained. I looked at him worriedly. He somehow sensed it.

"I'm fine. Let's go." He took off into the air, I followed him. It took us a few minutes to get back home. We landed on the grass.

"You know what, I can't be stuffed cooking tonight. Let's go out for dinner."

"With the whole flock?"

"No way have you watched them eat. Just you and me grasshopper."

"Awesome, shall we leave in say an hour."

"Sounds good." We walked into the house and into the lounge. I found max and fang making out aggressively on the couch.

"Get a room." I smirked

"Are they doing what I think they're doing?" Iggy asked

"Yep."

"I've got to get you out of here before it poisons your brain." He laughed and grabbed my arm. We bounced in to the kitchen laughing our heads off. I almost bumped into Angel and Nudge.

"Hey guys don't go in the lounge it's not for young eyes." Iggy grinned. Angel and Nudge each grabbed one of my arms and dragged me out of the room.

"Come with us." Angel said.

"Uh I don't think I have a choice." I muttered suspiciously

"It will help." Nudge encouraged.

"We know things." Angel added and pulled me into the bathroom. To make a long story short they put as much make up as possible on me, did something with my hair and put me into some unfamiliar dress but no dresses were really familiar to me. They appeared to be having some kind of secret mind conversation the entire time. After a while Nudge left the bathroom.

"The dress is a nice colour." Angel said thoughtfully.

"Um what are you dressing me up for?"

"Your dinner date with Iggy."

"It's not a date." I insisted.

"Sure sure..." She said off-handishly. What was she talking about things weren't like that between me and Iggy. It had never been and probably never would like that between me and _anyone. _That was just my life. Eventually she let me go. Iggy was waiting for me at the front door. He looked... good. It threw me off. I was speechless.

"Um you look nice." I blurted out when I finally found my voice.

"Thanks Nudge got to me. Not my choice" he said sheepishly. He opened the door and put an arm around me.

"She and Angel got to me too." Iggy put an arm around me his hand touched the sleeve of my dress.

"It's a nice pattern; your... what are you wearing?"

"Just a dress. Not my choice either."

"Of course not. So where do you want to get some food."

"Somewhere with a good burger." I supplied.

"I know just the place."

*~*~*~*

We ended up at a little burger bistro. There were a few people dotted around the tables. I had never been in a place like it before whenever I ate a burger it was at a chain restaurant. This place had a certain charm to it. We sat in a corner booth. The service was very fast and the burgers actually looked healthy. We had been talking about random stuff while we waited for our food. As I was chewing on my burger I thought back to what Angel had said. She had called it a dinner date; she could read minds what had she seen in both of our minds to make her think it was. Iggy seemed to be lost in thought too and we didn't talk well we ate. I heard one of the other patrons say

"Look at those cute kids in the booth. Do you think it's their first date? Do you remember our first date?" I tuned her out after that shoving my last piece of burger in my mouth. I gathered together the courage to ask the question that scared me more that any eraser, scientist or dog crate.

"Iggy is this a date?" I tried to keep my tone light and joking. Epic fail. Iggy blushed a hard red.

"no." He muttered. The red light went off in my head. he was lying. He picked up on his mistake.

"I just... I mean... when I'm with you it feels so... right. And I know you probably don't feel the same way but I can't help being so attracted to you." My cheeks were heating up. My heat was hammering. I wasn't sure how I felt about him. All I knew is that I always felt safe with him, he made me laugh and happy. Was that enough.

"_Yes." _Said a voice in my head. I sucked in a breath.

"Maybe I do feel the same way." I said softly. Iggy slid around the table to be next to me. hesitantly he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me.


	5. Love is in the air

**Chapter Five- Love is in the air**

It just felt amazing. Like I was at peace with the world for the first time in my life. I entwined my fingers in Iggy's hair as he pulled me closer. Our heads tilting from side to side so we could get closer to each other. Then I heard someone clearing their throat from the next table. We sprung apart quickly, both blushing bright red. The old couple at the next table was looking horrified at our public display of affection.

"Um do you want to get out of here?" Iggy said in a low voice.

"Yeah but not back to Dr Martinez's. Not yet." I murmured

"Of course not." He took my hand and we walked out of the restaurant together and down the street. I pulled him into a park and he pulled me into his arms and kissed me. It was better here than in the restaurant, no one to disturb us and we were out in nature a much more relaxing setting for two highly claustrophobic people. We ended up making out for about twenty minutes. Until I tripped over a rock and landed in some bushed dragging Iggy down with me. He landed on top of me.

"You're a klutz it's cute." Iggy said, pecking me on the lips before rolling off me and getting to his feet.

"Am not." I took the hand he extended to me and stood up brushing the leaves off me.

"Your skin is a nice colour, sort of a golden brown, olive-ish."

"And yours is almost albino." I giggled.

"It's adorable when you insult me."

"Love struck fool." But that's what we both were. Two love struck fools.

"Yeah I guess I am."

"Me too." We sat down on the grass. Iggy pulled me over onto his lap. I curled up against his chest and he played with stands off my hair. It was quite a warm evening but not stiflingly hot. There was a light pleasant breeze blowing. A perfect evening and I couldn't imagine spending it with a more perfect person. What a difference a few days had made.

"This is perfect." I sighed.

"Yeah, you are." He kissed the top of my head and I felt a shockwave go through me.

"I mean just five days ago I was at the school searching for information. Now I'm here and I've got you."

"That's sweet."

"I'm serious you know. Life wasn't any good before I meet you."

"Marshmallow."

"You haven't seen me in battle. They needed someone to test all the flying easers on."

"You mean the winged fridges."

"Pretty much. I kicked their butts and they still got past the testing process."

"Idiots, but they're gone now and even if they were I wouldn't let them hurt you."

"And I wouldn't let them hurt you either." I smirked. Iggy laughed. He had a really nice laugh. Again, I'm a love struck fool, I can't be held responsible for the things I say. I settled back on his chest. I gazed up at the inky black sky that was dotted with stars. I felt safe in Iggy's arms. I was warm and secure. I didn't ever want to let this feeling go. We sat simply enjoying being together for awhile. No words were needed.

But eventually our peace was interrupted after awhile by me yawning loudly.

"Tired?" Iggy asked smiling a little bit.

"A bit Fang kept me up last night showing me a power point about global warming. I took your advice and it worked."

"Glad to hear that. As much as I am enjoying this time, it must be getting late."

"Let go." I sighed reluctantly. We walked back to Dr Martinez's house, though the dark streets with our arms around each other. When we got to the house it was quiet everyone else had gone to bed. As I was turning to open the door to Angels and my room Iggy grabbed my arm and whirled me back around. He kissed me quickly.

"Good night grasshopper." He whispered in my ear sending chills down my spine. I grinned at him and backed into my room. I changed into my pyjamas and crawled into bed.

*~*~*~*~*

My eyes flew open the next morning. I lay in bed staring across the room thinking about him. I'd never connected with anyone before but last night everything clicked into place. I loved him more than anything. He was my world. If you run an Iggy fan club I'll happily join heck I'd be president. I heard pots clanging from the kitchen. I guessed it was Iggy. I jumped out of bed and ran to find him.

He was cooking pancakes in the kitchen. He looked up when he heard me coming.

"Morning." I said leaning against the fridge. His mouth broke out into a grin.

"Morning. Last night was..."

"Amazing, fantastic the best night of my life."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly." He was coming up close to me. My heart started to thud loudly and adrenaline ran through my veins. "Do you think we could pick up from where we left off last night?" Iggy murmured.

"Of course." I managed sound normal saying this. Iggy's hands entwined around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I felt his lips brush mine as he pushed me back up against the fridge keeping his body pushed up against mine. We started making out passionately. Iggy's lips moved down from my lips and on to my neck and back up again. I'd like to say that's what we did for the rest of the day but sadly we were interrupted.

"Get your hands of my sister, bastard!" bellowed Fang and he punched Iggy in the jaw. I tugged Iggy out of Fang's way quickly. I tried to ignore the fact that it made us touch so closely and the livewires that went through me at his touch.

"Jeez Fang fantastic time to go all over protective brother on me." I yelled at him. "Iggy are you okay."

"It might hurt less if you kissed me better." Iggy said cheekily. I leaned into to kiss him.

"WOW!" Exclaimed Nudge. I jerked away from Iggy and saw the rest of the flock plus Jeb and Dr Martinez. Crap.

"The flock is there aren't they?" Iggy asked.

"Yep." I replied.

"And Jeb and Doctor Martinez."

"Yep."

"Well crap."

"Yep." I could feel my face getting hot. Iggy was blushing too. The redness showed up more on his creamy skin than on my olive.

"Come on let's make like a banana and split." Iggy whispered in my ear grabbing my hand and dragging me out the door. We took off into the air flying hand in hand.

*~*~*~*~*

As we walked back into the house that evening we were laughing hysterically. It was a direct contrast to the silent dinner table. We both went quiet as we entered the room. Iggy squeezed my hand as if to say, _it's okay. _The only two empty places were side by side and Max was on one side and Fang on the other. The air was much tenser than it had been on my first morning there. The only sounds for the entire meal were chewing and the scraping of knives and forks. I cause a lot of awkward silences. I knew that most of them didn't trust me. Especially after this.

As I was walking down the hall to my room, I overheard raised voices.

"Why are you doing this Iggy? She's a traitor I can bet she's relaying her information to I Tex right now." Max hissed.

"You don't know her like I do. She couldn't be an I Tex spy. She's my everything." Iggy said gently.

"I don't care what kind of lies she's feeding you. I don't trust her."

"And I love her." We hadn't exactly voiced that we loved each other before then but I knew it in my heart. Even though it had only been a day it just felt right.

"Well if you're not prepared to leave her then... then... you can leave with her." There was silence for a moment.

"You can't be serious."

"Iggy I don't want to do this. Believe me it's a last resort. But I have to do what I can to keep the flock safe."

"Well, there's no question about it I'm with Violet." This was enough. I walked away from the doorway and out onto the porch. I sat on the step with my head in my hands. I thought when you found the person you loved you were supposed to make their life better not alienate them from their family. I didn't know how I could fix it. Was there any way I could prove to them that I wasn't a traitor. There was only one thing I could do. As much as it scared me and that it was the last thing I wanted to do, when you love someone you have to make sacrifices for them. I was learning that the hard way. I heard the door open and shut. Footsteps approached me and someone sat down beside me.

"Hey, I was wondering where you were. What are doing out here all alone?" Iggy asked softly.

"I've been thinking..."

"About what?"

"Well I overheard you and max arguing before."

"Oh that. It will be fine. I don't think the others would stand for it. If not I know who I'm going with."

"You shouldn't have to choose between me and your family. But I think I've figured out how to fix it."

"How?"

"Just trust me; I need to go back to the I Tex headquarters."

"W-w-why. You can't do that."

"Hear me out. If I can prove to the Flock that I Tex had fallen and maybe even find some information on their parents maybe they will see that I'm not a spy and am actually Fangs sister." Iggy nodded slowly.

"Okay, if it's what you think will work then I'm going to let you go. Just come back to me."

"Just try and stop me."


	6. Two halves of a whole

**Chapter six- Two halves of a whole **

It was early in the morning; only the first rays of sunlight were illuminating Iggy's face. We were standing half a foot away from each other looking at each other face to face. Iggy touched my cheek. We had gotten up before dawn to get things prepared for my departure. I was leaving before anyone else got up. Things would be easier that was. Though I hated leaving Iggy to explain everything... well I hated leaving him anyway.

"Stay safe. Don't do anything that puts you in danger."

"I'll try."

"You don't have to do this you know. There will be other ways."

"I want to do it. It will be good closure for me too."

"I love you."

"I love you too." He pulled me closer and kissed me tenderly.

"I won't be happy until you're back."

"I'll be back in a couple of weeks everything will be good after that. Oh crap there's a light that's just turned on I've got to go. Get inside." I unfolded my wings and pushed myself into the air.

"See you. Miss you already." Iggy waved as it flew higher and higher into the air. I didn't have time to look back. I had to get away although there was so much pulling me back. My heart was slowly breaking as I left Iggy. A day after we had gotten together. I had never found anyone in the world that I was in tune with. My other half. Okay cheese fest over.

I flew over Arizona. It was amazingly hot. I tried to use my wings to fan myself but I ended dropping about 10 feet so I gave up on that. I kept going through the sweltering heat. At about midday I brought an ice cream from a shop on the outskirts of a small town. I sat in a tree and began to eat it. Then I heard cracking branches above me. The sound was getting closer and closer as I threw my arms over my head to protect myself from the falling branches. I had to drop my ice cream in the process. Then something landed beside me on the branches heavily with a '_thump' _

I gasped at what I saw. The thing was over six feet tall, had messy strawberry blond hair that had twigs sticking out of it at odd angels. The thing was Iggy.

"Iggy! What the hell?!" I shrieked jumping up. "What are you doing here?!"

"I missed you. You were gone for about ten minutes and I started thinking I should have gone with you. So I told Gazzy where I was going and left before anyone could stop me."

"That's great and I'm glad you're here. But if something happened to you, I don't think I could live with myself"

"And if something happened to _you_ I couldn't live with _myself_. I'm coming to keep you safe. I brought bombs."

"Of course. How can I resist your bombs?" I sat back down next to him and started to pick the twigs and leaves out of his hair.

"So what's the plan?"

"We fly to Florida, break into the Itex headquarters, get some information and leave."

"Sounds good. Do you want to keep going?"

"Yeah we should find some lunch."

"Oh yeah, sorry about the ice cream."

"It's okay. Let's go."

"I'll take the bag." I jumped off the branch unfolding my wings as I fell and started to get higher in the air. Iggy grabbed the backpack which contained blankets, spare clothes, a saucepan, matches, money and other basic survival things. If something happened to it we were screwed. He unfurled his golden wings and took off. I felt a lot more relaxed when I had him flying with me. We stopped for lunch in a little diner in New Mexico. We sat together at one of the Formica topped tables planning on where to spend the night. We went into the internet cafe next door and did a search of the area. We found a group of mountains on the Texas- New Mexico border that had some caves that we could stay in.

"So if we get to these caves tonight, we'll stay there and then tomorrow we need to get to Louisiana. If all goes to plan we'll be in Florida in two days time." I told Iggy as I analysed a map on the computer screen. He nodded.

"Should we stop at a supermarket to get some food to cook on a fire?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah, better than dessert rat." After loading up with enough food for an army, we flew for the mountains where the caves were. By the time we got there the sun was setting and the sky was different shades of red, orange and yellow. It was kind of beautiful. Iggy got to work immediately starting a fire. As it was his area of expertise, I decided to leave him to it and went for a walk around the mountain. I wandered across a group of boy scouts who were having a camp fire and making s'mores. There was a stray unopened bag lying not far from the rock that I was observing them from behind. I couldn't resist grabbing it and taking it back to our cave. I picked up two perfect sticks to roast them on.

"Hey Ig, I stole some marshmallows from a group of boy scouts. I thought we could roast them." The fire was already crackling away and Iggy was cooking some bacon and eggs over it in a pan.

"You stole from boy scouts?" Iggy asked in mock horror.

"Shut up. They weren't using them." I threw the marshmallows and the sticks on top of the pile of blankets and sat down next to Iggy. I leaned my head on his shoulder. He put his arm that wasn't holding the pan around my shoulder.

"That smells good." I commented gesturing to the cooking bacon.

"Yeah, well no one cooks in the wilderness like me." Iggy grinned. He took the pan off the fire and started dividing the food onto two plates. We ate ravenously. It tasted as good as if smelt. Another thing to add to the rapidly growing list of things I love about Iggy, he could seriously cook with next to no supplies. As he was washing the dishes I opened the bag of marshmallows. I impaled one on a stick and held it over the over the fire. I got Iggy's one ready with my other hand.

"Come and get your marshmallow." I waved it in his direction. He came over and took it from me. We sat together roasting marshmallow after marshmallow, occasionally feeding one to each other. When the bag was empty, we lay on top of one of the blankets. Iggy was sort of leaning up against the cave wall. My head was on his chest. His arms were wrapped around me. We talked quietly about things. How we're going to get into the probably shut down Itex Iggy told me about his parents and what they had done to him.

"It just sucked. I thought I had found them, but they just wanted to exploit me."

"I can't imagine what you would have gone through."

"Oh well it's all in the past. Anyway I've got you now." We lay in silence for a while. After a few minutes I asked Iggy a question. He didn't respond. I looked up. His eyes were shut and his lips slightly parted. He was breathing heavily and evenly. He looked so peaceful and cute when he was asleep. Angelic almost. I leaned my head back on his chest and pulled a blanket over us. I let the calm sounds of Iggy's breathing lull me to sleep.

*~*~*~*~*

A couple of days later were relaxing on an empty beach in Florida. I know. Infiltrating evil companies is _such_ hard work. We were waiting for the cover of darkness before we broke in. we brought bathing suits, sunglasses from a cute beachfront store. I was soaking up some sunshine and Iggy was working his tan.

"It's not going to work." I told him.

"It will." He said.

"Just don't come crying to me when you're as red as a lobster." He gave me a dark look from behind his sunglasses. "Put some sun block on." I threw the bottle in his direction.

"No."

"I'll put it on for you." I said sort of seductively. He paused before answering weighing up the pluses and minuses in his head.

"No." he sighed. "I don't wanna be albino anymore. No matter how appealing that idea is."

"Pale people don't tan they burn."

"How do you know, you're naturally tanned."

"It's a well known fact. Whatever I'm going swimming." I pulled of my t-shirt and shorts. Iggy sat up eagerly.

"Are you..."

"Am I what?"

"Wearing a bikini?"

"Um yeah why?"

"Cause it's hot. Can you describe it to me... or better yet I could feel it."

"I would hate to know what's going on inside your mind."

"You know you love it." Yeah I did. I kind of felt like talking dirty to him considering how amazingly good he looked in just his board shorts. For someone as tall and skinny as he was, Iggy was rather muscular.

"I might." I threw my sunglasses onto my towel. "Are you coming?" he nodded and jumped to his feet. I ran down the water and splashed through it. Iggy was right behind me. I dived under the water. When I resurfaced I felt two hands on my back.

"Ooh red bikini." Iggy said. "I think you should wear that all the time." I turned around to face him.

"Um thanks, I guess." He wrapped his arms around me.

"I bet you're beautiful, I mean you sound beautiful, you smell beautiful, you feel beautiful and last but not least you taste beautiful." He leaned down and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck. She were making out until a wave crashed over us and we got thrown around in the surf. We bobbed up laughing. We swam back over to each other.

"I love you." I told him.

"I love you too."


	7. Shock

**Chapter 7- Shock**

"Itex has sure changed a lot since I was last here." I said as I peered through the wrought iron black fence. All the once impeccable hedges were overgrown pointing in wild direction and weeds were destroying the pretty flower beds. There was a large hole blown out of the side of the building.

"Did you make that hole?" I asked turning to face Iggy. He grinned mischievously.

"Yup. With the Gasman. When have you been here before?" Iggy asked.

"We should start breaking in. the fence is about three and half metres high." I quickly changed the subject. My time at Itex headquarters had been short and I was unconscious for the majority of it. I flew over the fence and landed softly on the other side. Iggy followed a second mimicking my movements exactly. We ran up the grass to the front entrance. We were sticking to the ground because we could still be seen from the road. And nothing interrupts a secret break by random by-standers shouting out "OMG! Those kids can fly!" It really kills being inconspicuous.

I punched in the code I had found out back at the school into a key pad by the front door. There was a beep and a robotic female voice said,

"Doors unlocked. Welcome to Itexicon." I pushed the door open and pulled Iggy inside. I lead him down tiled hallway after tiled hallway. It felt chilling to be back here considering the state I was in last time. I gripped Iggy's hand tightly the whole way. I found my way to the central data base. I logged into to one of the computers.

_User Name: RterBorcht_

_Password: McDonalds_

I found it hilarious that ter Borcht's password was McDonalds. I laughed a little bit.

"What?" Iggy said.

"Ter Borcht's password is McDonalds." I snickered. Iggy smirked.

"Can't say I'm too surprised." I found my file and clicked open the first thing in there titled _letter from father. _It was a letter written on a type writer. It read,

_10__th__ February 1994_

_Dear Dr ter Borcht_

_I have thought long and hard about the offer you gave me about taking those two children off my hands. I can't bring myself to call them my children. I tried to get Arabella to get rid of them but she refused for some reason, she says she cares for them, loves them even. They are annoying and keep me up at all hours of the night which is preventing me from concentrating on the most important thing. My career. I have high ambitions in as a lawyer hoping to become a partner in the office at a young age and I know I will not achieve this with the twins weighing me down. So please take them off my hands._

_I would like to lay down a few conditions. First, I know you will be using them for scientific experiments and will need proper documentation throughout their life. Do not under any circumstances attach mine or Arabella's name to this; I cannot have anyone finding out that I am connected to them. It would ruin my career. List the father as unknown and say the mother is some drug addict. Use one of the names from the big cocaine bust that is coming up._

_Second, keep them separated. You may keep them in the same facility but do not let them meet. If they are together they have a better chance of tracking me down. As I said before I want them out of my life for good. I would die a happy man if I never saw them for the rest of my life. They've only been around for a week and a half and I already despise them. _

_Third, if you want to contact me do it via my office and use a fake name. Arabella cannot find out. I will attach my business card to this letter please call as soon as possible and tell me how you will take them. I help you or your colleges get into the house sometime at night shall we say 20__th__ of February. I will make sure Arabella is asleep and I'll anesthetize the twins to stop them from screaming and waking her._

_Thank you so much for helping solve my problem and fixing this stupid mistake. I will be forever in your debt. Please remember to contact me at my office and I look forward to hearing from you._

_Yours Sincerely_

_Reginald Yolkman_

I store at the screen shaking with anger. I couldn't believe that my father had let Fang and I be taken away by white coats because we would harm his career. He had organised it with ter Borcht who was insanity personified. I had always thought of my mother as the bad guy. The name the school had on their files was Christina Phillips. I googled her years ago and found that she had been arrested in a drug bust that had taken place about a week after I had been first grafted with the Avian DNA. I always thought she sold us for drug money. I had been so furious then. But this felt worse. So much worse. His job was worth more to him than me. Iggy put a hand on my shoulder.

"What's wrong?" He asked gently feeling that I was trembling.

"My Father gave me away to the school... because of his job... I was just a problem and a mistake." I read the letter out to him. He rubbed my shoulder and ran his fingers through my hair.

"Oh Violet, he sounds like such an ass. Like my dad, but even worse. He must have been a complete idiot to not notice how wonderful you were. But it sounds like your mom loved you."

"I guess." I said I opened up a picture. It was a picture of a woman who looked like an older version of me holding who sleeping babies. The babies looked identical. The woman was gazing down at them lovingly like they held the secret to happiness. There was a man who had my eyes standing behind them with an obviously phony smile on his face. After all those years of wondering who my father was, I felt so disappointed. But on the other hand I found out that my mother was so much better than I had first thought. I clicked on a media clip; it was of a reporter in front of a suburban home with the two people from the picture next to her. Except in the video the woman looked tired, pale and gaunt. She had lost a lot of weight since the picture. The man however looked the picture of health.

"_On the 20__th__ February, three week old twins Albert and Violet Yolkman were taken from their San Francisco home during the night. There are no leads to who may have abducted them. I'm here with the parents of the infants, Reginald and Arabella Yolkman, do you have any idea who might have done this?" _the reporter said pointing his microphone at them. The woman, Arabella, was first to speak.

"_No I can't imagine who would take my babies. I just want them back, if any one knows anything about what happened please, please tell the police. I miss Al and Vi so much, I love them." _She burst out sobbing onto the man's shoulder. He patted her back awkwardly.

"_Thank you for your time in what must be a difficult time." _the reporter said sincerely to Reginald.

"_Oh yes you just can't imagine what we're going through. Thank you for helping get the message out there." _Reginald replied lying through his teeth. The clip ended.

"I look exactly like her... my mom." I told Iggy.

"I bet you do." He murmured. "Are you okay?"

"I think so. I've got deadbeat dad but my mom seems like a good person, not at all how I thought she was. I always thought that she was a drug addict or something and had sold Fang and me for drug money. It just seems sad that my mom never knew what happened, that her husband betrayed in such a big way." I found an article saying that Arabella had filed for divorce a few months after the video clip and another saying it was finalised a few months after that. "They got divorced."

"That's good, she's away from him. She saw him for the scumbag he really is."

"I hope she's okay. That the school didn't kill her or anything."

"I'm sure she is. There would be something saying that she had died if they had." I printed out everything in my file including all the photos, articles and my medical records. The medical records were basically a detail list of every experiment or surgery the white coats had run on me. I skimmed through it again quickly checking to see if there was anything I didn't know about. There were a few minor things that they had done to me while I was unconscious but nothing that would affect me now or in the future.

I also printed out all the stuff in the other members of the flock's files as that had been the main aim of this break in. I found a pile of manila folders on a shelf in the central data room. I shoved each person's papers into a different folder. I put the folders in the bag. I was about to open up Iggy's file on the computers. I told him this and he stopped me.

"You don't need to bother. I already trust you and I know who my parents are unfortunately." He said.

"I know, I'm just going to look anyway." I went straight for his medical files. I found that he had only two surgeries on him, I found this slightly odd as I thought they would have tried to correct his vision at least once. I went down the eye surgery he had when he was four. There were some notes on it.

_Surgery a success._ I found this strange. Wasn't it failure? He had lost his eyesight. If that's not a failure I don't know what is.

_Subject has complete loss of vision. Hopefully his others senses will develop more. Eyesight is easily restorable and if the subject does have better sensory it will be fixed at later date. _I felt ill reading this. They had made Iggy, my Iggy, blind on purpose. It wasn't a botched job, but completely intentional. It was another test. I scrolled down to a note that was written a few years later.

_Subject is making significant progress with hearing, smell, touch and taste. A date has been set for his vision restoration. _It was today's date. If Iggy had stayed at the school and Itex didn't go on their genocidal rampage, he would be able to see again. Today. At this time he might be opening his eyes and seeing for the first time in eleven years. But he would be in the school and not with me. My mind raced as I tried to decide to tell him or not. Did I protect him or let him know truth. My thoughts were interrupted by Iggy grabbing my arm.

"I hear footsteps. Lots of footsteps." He whispered and pulled me under a table and we huddled together staying silent. Then I head rapid, mechanical footsteps coming towards us, all in perfect time with each other. Whatever was coming for us, they weren't human. Who did they work for? The footsteps got louder and a whole army of strange human like robots with glowing green eyes and machine guns for arms. They were incredible creepy. There were around fifty of them. Then a hand reached under the table and grabbed onto my arm. I was dragged out of Iggy's arms.

"Violet, No!" Iggy shouted but another of the things grabbed him. I struggled and kicked at the robot. I hit the base of its spine and it crumpled, releasing me. Must be a weak spot. I rammed myself at the one holding Iggy. Iggy was dropped onto the ground, he scrambled to his feet.

"What are these things?" I screamed.

"M-Geeks, they work for the Chu cooperation." I didn't have a chance to ask him what that was because another M-Geek hit Iggy's head from behind. I heard a sickening _whack,_ and Iggy collapsed. I didn't have time to try helping him because and M-Geek kicked me in the stomach and I went flying through the air. I hit the tiled wall hard. I felt a blinding pain before I blacked out.


	8. Keep you safe

**Chapter Eight- Keep you safe**

When I regained consciousness I was lying on a hard concrete floor. I groaned and sat up. Wherever I was it was dark and cold. There was a tiny shaft of light coming through a slit in the wall high up. It was much too small for two bird kids to escape out of. It looked to me early afternoon. I looked around the dark room for Iggy; he was about 5 feet away from me starting to wake up. I shuffled over to him. It was painful, I was bruised all over.

"Hey," I said softly kneeling beside him. He opened his eyes.

"Ugh." He moaned. "Are you hurt?"

"Not that much, a little bit bruised. What about you?" I downplayed it a little bit so he wouldn't worry.

"Kind of the same thing. Do you know where we are?" He looked around at a room he couldn't see.

"It's a cell or something, it's mostly dark. I think we're underground." I spotted a wooden door. I went over to it and tried to open it. It was locked. In slammed up against it trying to knock it down. It wouldn't budge.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to break down the door! It's not working!"

"It's okay. I think I've got some..." he dug through his pockets. "Crap! They took all my explosives!"

"We're stuck." I couldn't think of another way out. It was hopeless.

"No we will. I'll get us out of here. I'll keep you safe." I went and sat next to him on the hard ground. He put both arms around me and pulled me close to him. There was a sound like keys rattling and four people stepped into the room. Two of them I knew.

"Oh look Violet's got a boyfriend." My clone taunted. I felt like hitting her. She was holding the hand of a boy who was a similar age to me. He had steely grey eyes that showed no emotion. Must be Omega.

"Wait, I'm confused. Why are you taunting yourself?" Iggy said.

"Iggy, meet my clone, and look ter Borcht is here too. And I finally have the displeasure of meeting Omega."

"I know ter Borcht. Yo, ter Borcht did you ever eat those nine snicker bars?" Ter Borcht looked as if he might explode with anger.

"I see you are as annoying as ever." He growled at Iggy. Iggy simply grinned.

"Yup, I still have a good sense of irony." He said happily.

"Enough!" shouted the fourth person, the only one who I haven't heard of or meet before. He was a short fat Asian man. "I am Mr Chu."

"You're the guy who kidnapped Max's mom and dumped all that nuclear waste in the ocean. So you're working with ter Borcht now. Weird partnership." Iggy commented. Mr Chu looked as angry as ter Borcht.

"Nah they have the same tempers it's a match made in heaven. Or hell." I said

"Ter Borcht come and prepare the experiments. That will shut them up." Mr Chu left the room with ter Borcht following dutifully. Omega and my clone stay behind guarding the door.

"Well, I can see who wears the pants in that relationship." I chuckled.

"You're not making your situation better by making fun of everyone." Violet 2.0 commented.

"Please leave. I feel like making out with Iggy and you're ruining the mood." Iggy looked happy at this.

"We've been assigned to guard you. We cannot leave." Omega said robotically.

"Enjoy the show then." Iggy said and kissed me passionately wrapping his arms around my waist. I grabbed his hair and kissed him back. I heard my clone and Omega make sounds of disgust but I didn't care. The one good thing about this was that I was with Iggy. I didn't know how much time left we had so I was planning to enjoy it as much as possible. Making out with him kept me calm and made me happy. Iggy looked more relaxed too.

I saw Violet 2.0 and Omega watching us curiously but angrily. I'm guessing Mr and Mrs Perfect didn't do stuff like this. It didn't look like an intimate relationship, Iggy and I were the exact opposite as we were showing them.

"You are disgusting." Omega said. Violet 2.0 nodded holding onto his hand.

"You should try it sometime it's fun." Iggy said between kisses.

"We don't do those kinds of activities." Omega snarled.

"But how will you repopulate the world with perfect babies?" Iggy asked putting on a very fake innocent expression.

"Let's guard outside the door." Violet 2.0 said angrily and they both stormed out slamming the door behind them. Iggy and I fell about laughing.

"That was so funny." I giggled.

"They are so easy to wind up."

"I don't think they have a very intimate relationship." I said this loudly enough for them to hear. I heard angry whispers outside the door and knew my insult reached its target.

"You should've told me about your clone."

"I thought she was imprisoned or something. She's not a perfect clone. It's my human DNA no bird."

"So her and perfect boy are a thing?"

"Pretty much." We sat quietly and listened to the conversation going on outside.

"They are completely inappropriate!" Omega said.

"Maybe we could try it just once." Violet 2.0 muttered. I heard a slapping noise. I couldn't believe she just took that. If Iggy hit me I would leave him so fast. But he never would so I'd never have to. Another of the reasons why Iggy is a much better boyfriend than Omega.

"No, I want to as well but we can't give into our urges." I clapped my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing.

"I'm sorry your right. I can't believe I even considered that."

"They are inferior to us; we cannot let them get to us

"Of course, they are just showing off. Idiots."

"I agree wholeheartedly. That other Violet will get what's coming to her."

"They'll really understand each other after that. All we need to do is wait for the message." they both laughed coldly.

"I must say, I bet your clone is hot and all but she's a total jerk. I'm glad I'm with the part avian, all wonderful, original Violet." Iggy whispered. I nodded.

"Iggy, I'm nodding." He smiled and kissed my forehead.

"I'm sorry that I gave into my urges." We both laughed.

"I like your urges."The door flew open and banged on the wall loudly. Omega strode in and grabbed me by the arm. He kicked Iggy in the head and pulled me off him. Iggy, whose nose was bleeding, jumped up and lunged for omega but two M-Geeks rushed in and held him back. I tried to struggle out of Omega's vice-like grip. He dragged me up stairs and down a hallway. I was thrust into a hard chair. My head slammed against the hard headrest. Omega restrained me in the chair and taped my mouth shut.

"Wait here." He said. Like I could do much else. I was left tied up in the chair for a long time. It was incredibly uncomfortable. The restraints were tight and cutting off my blood circulation. I tried to break free but the restraints were made of iron. I didn't know what the M-Geeks were doing to Iggy. I hoped he was okay. Finally a team of scientists led by ter Borcht filed into the room. Some of the White coats came over to me and started hooking me up to electrodes. I had been hooked up to electrodes before for ECGs and stuff like that but something seemed wrong about this. One of the white coats was looking at monitor.

"Are ve ready for the shock?" Ter Borcht asked the white coat. Shock? What shock?

"Yes sir, the brain waves are good." The white coat at the monitor replied. Another white coat turned a dial. And I felt pain. It was excruciating. A shock went through my head. I screamed but it was muffled by the tape over my mouth. I felt tears falling down my cheeks. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. I had never known pain like this.

As quickly as it had started it stopped. I opened my eyes. For a second I wondered if they had turned out the lights because it was pitch black. I couldn't see a thing. I blinked but nothing changed. I froze. What had they done to me? I felt the tape be ripped harshly off my mouth. It hurt but compared to the pain I had just been though it was gentle.

"Vhat can you see?" Ter Borcht asked.

"Nothing." I said blankly. "What have you done to me?"

"It's only temporary. You shall be able to see again tomorrow morning when you wake up. Enjoy your evening." He said this in a way that made me think he was smirking but I couldn't tell. I was unrestrained and pulled down a hallway. I stumbled down what felt like steps and was shoved hard. Then I was caught be something solid.

"Violet!" It was Iggy. I started gasping and sobbing as I felt warm hands wrap around me and hold me tightly, "What did they do to you."

"I can't see." I whimpered. Iggy pulled me down and onto his lap. I cried into his chest as he rocked me slowly back and forward. "They shocked me. It hurt. It's only temporary. Until I wake up tomorrow morning."

"It's okay, I'm here. I know everything there is to know about being blind. I'll look after you." I felt better knowing he was here but I was still so disoriented and confused. I didn't want to cry in front of him but I couldn't seem to stop. I snuggled into his chest for hours as he patiently stayed with me. I heard the door open and Iggy tightened his grip around me.

"Here's some food." A cruel voice said. I hadn't eaten since we had a beach side picnic before we broke into Itex almost a day ago and I was starving. But how could I eat when I couldn't see the food. I stayed perfectly still while I listened to Iggy's chewing.

"Why aren't you eating?" he asked sounding concerned. I felt frustrated that I couldn't see his expression.

"Not hungry." I mumbled. My stomach rumbled.

"You need to eat."

"I can't. I can't see the food."

"Okay, I'll help you." I felt something near my mouth.

"What are you doing?"

"Feeding you. You can't do it yourself so I'm going to do it for you. Open up." It was so sweet of him to help me like this. I knew I definitely had made the right choice in Iggy. I gingerly took a bite. It tasted like peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's not exactly gourmet but when you haven't eaten for a day anything tastes good. I ate a couple of sandwiches until I felt relatively full. I heard a smashing sound.

"What was that?" I asked feeling sort of alert.

"I broke the plate. We could use it for like weapons or something." Trust Iggy to turn something as innocent as a plate into a weapon.

"Oh, okay."

"When you can see again. Tomorrow we're going to find a way out of here. I don't know how but we will. What they've done to you, it's awful and I don't want anything else to happen to you. So we've got to get to safety."

"Yeah we do. Good idea."

"We'll talk about it in the morning. I promise you, I will get you out of here alive." Warm lips met mine. "Go to sleep. The sooner you sleep the sooner you will be able to see. Good night."

"Night and thank you for today."

"It was nothing. I would do it any day." I shut my eyes out of habit even though I was already enthralled in darkness. I dozed of drifting into dreams. I heard one whispered sentence before I feel asleep.

"Sweet dreams my darling."


	9. Falling

**Chapter Nine- Falling**

I opened my eyes to the first rays of sunlight. At first I was annoyed that the sun was disturbing my rest, but then I remembered. My vision was back. I looked up at Iggy's sleeping face and smiled. It was good to see again. Iggy's face was slightly bruised and cut, obviously from the M-Geek attack. I hadn't noticed before as I couldn't see him. I watched him sleep for awhile before looking around the room. It was still the same dark cold room but there were a few shards of porcelain on the ground and the door was slightly open... wait, slightly open.

"Ig, Iggy wake up." I whispered as I shook him.

"Huh, what?" he said sleepily rubbing his eyes. He sat up looking around at a room he couldn't see. I put a finger on his lips.

"Shhh, they left the door open. I think we need to start escaping now. It's still quite dark. I think it's now or never." He nodded. I jumped up.

"Okay, let's go." He said in a low voice.

"Have you got your plate weapons?"

"Yup." He got up and grabbed my hand. I led him out of the door opening it slowly, it creaked a little bit. We hurried up the stairs quickly but silently. The worst thing would to be caught.

"Where to now." Iggy murmured. I looked around. If I turned left we would end up in the room that I had been 'experimented' on yesterday.

"Forward." We continued down the long hallway. It smelled strongly of antiseptic. It made it all the much harder to keep going.

"Ugh, I hate this." Iggy groaned.

"I know it smells awful. But we've got to keep going. We'll be free soon."

"Where are we going to go?"

"I know where you'll be going. Straight to hell!" I spun around and found Violet 2.0 with Omega standing behind her. They both looked incredibly smug as if they had just won the lottery or something. I suppose stopping escapees and defending their precious bosses was like the lottery to them. It was job satisfaction that made them happy. a side-effect from being a created being. I groaned.

"Oh hey how are your urges?"Iggy smirked. Omega glared at him.

"Ig, he's glaring at you." I told him.

"I guessed as much." He pulled me close to him so his lips were almost touching my ear. "What are the surroundings like?" It was barely audible when he said this. I glanced around discreetly.

"There's a supply closest two feet to your right." I breathed.

"Can you distract them for two minutes?"

"Yes." Iggy slipped into the supply cupboard. I knew just to have confidence in him. Whatever he was doing it would help us.

"What's he doing?" Omega asked. I blocked the door to the supply closet. I kind of hoped he would try and attack me. I really felt like hitting someone and these two seemed like the perfect people to take out my anger on.

"Nothing." I said breezily.

"I don't trust you."

"That's because you _can't_ trust. You haven't even got the ability to love. I bet this 'relationship' that you two share is all a stupid farce."

"You're wrong." They said in unison. It was the first time it was an even playing field between us. The fight could go either way. I was delighted to find I was taller than Omega and Violet 2.0 and if I was taller than them Iggy, at about six-foot-four, would tower over them both.

"Our relationship is stronger than yours." Violet 2.0 said defiantly. "They made mistakes with you and they obviously made them with him." I wanted to say that it intentional that he was blind, but I knew Iggy could still hear and this would be an awful way for him to find out.

"Don't you ever say stuff like that about Iggy. Sure he's not perfect but I'd pick an explosion loving, bomb making, dirty thought having blind pyromaniac for a boyfriend over a rock any day. I love every part of him even the explosion loving, bomb making, dirty thought having blind pyromaniac bits. No, _neither_ of us is perfect, but at least we genuinely love and care about each other. Unlike somebody I could mention."

"You weren't perfect so they made me! Once they figured out how to get a better newer version of you they didn't need to old one! If I hadn't been created they would have let you survive the by-half plan. But somehow you got away. There is only supposed to be one Violet. Only one of us can survive. You shouldn't be alive!"

"You're not Violet." I insisted. "I am! You're just a photocopy. Nothing more. You shouldn't have _existed_. I was born normal. I had a family! You were created in a lab! You don't think like I do."

"Well..." she opened her mouth to retort to that but I was knocked over as someone launched themselves at me. I hit the hard tile floor hard knocking my already bruised limbs on it. I was about to push my attacker off me when I heard a deafening '_boom!' _that made my ears ring.Someone was shielding me from the blast. They put their hands in front of my head. Pieces of debris fell near me but they never hit me. When the dust settled, the person rolled off me. It was Iggy.

"Thanks." I coughed because of all the dust. He smiled softly.

"Are they unconscious?" he said nodding his head at Violet 2.0 and Omega. They were lying flat on the ground. Their hair was completely covered in dust so it was white. Their faces were cut. It was incredibly weird seeing pretty-much myself lying on the ground unconscious.

"Yeah they are, let's get going before the wake up." I spotted a piece of paper sticking slightly out of Omega's pocket. I tip-toed over keeping as quite as possible. The last thing I wanted to do was wake them up. The piece of paper was a map of the facility that we were being held in, with an exact path do the exit. I examined it for a moment taking everything in.

"Okay I know where to go." I whisper turning to Iggy. He nodded. "Omega had a map."I took his hand again and we carried on along the long corridor. It was very dark as there were no windows and I didn't want to switch on the lights for fear of catching anyone's attention. But thanks to my newly usable raptor vision, I was easily able to navigate the way. Finally, I found a door with a sign above it marked exit. But as a pushed on the bar that would open the door, there was a blaring alarm noise and the lights started to flick on. I opened the door and pushed Iggy outside following behind as fast as I could. We needed to start flying as soon as possible.

"Get into the air!" I said frantically to Iggy. He whipped his wings open and I did the same. It felt amazing to feel the sun on my wings again. As we ascended into the air I saw five winged-kid shaped blobs and one flying dog shaped blob were flying across the horizon. I had never been so glad to see the flock. The again I had never really been that glad to see the flock before then.

"The flock is here!" I called to Iggy. He grinned from ear to ear. I was glad he was happy, but we weren't free yet.

"Let's get a move on then." We started flying away from the house of horrors. We were almost over their ten foot high fence that was topped with barbed wire. I was preparing to propel myself slightly higher to get over it, when I heard mechanical footsteps. I looked back quickly and saw dozens of M-Geeks filing out of the doorway. They were coming out in one straight line and filling into rows and rows of killing machines.

Then I saw one of them near the back aim his gun at Iggy and fire. It took less than a split second for me to react.

"Iggy, No!" I screamed. I flew into him and knocked him out of the firing line. I felt a searing pain so close to my heart and then another in my wing. I couldn't even keep myself in the air. I was falling. There was blackness closing in on me. That was good; I wouldn't feel my bones brake. Then a blonde haired, golden winged caught me. That was the last thing I saw before succumbing to the pain and blacking out.


	10. Wrong

**Chapter Ten- Wrong**

**Max POV**

"This place looked like a bomb hit it." Total commented as we walked very cautiously through Itex.

"It did!" Gazzy snickered.

"I know that, but more recently." It was true, there were smashed computer screens, chairs knocked over and shredded paper all over the ground.

"Okay guys," I got the flocks attention. "Gazzy are you sure Iggy said he was coming here?"

"Positive, he said that he was going off to Itex headquarters, to follow Violet, who was going there to find some information." Gazzy replied. I sighed.

"Well, there's no one here. We've looked everywhere." Though Iggy had super hearing, could feel colours and cook better that anyone I knew it wouldn't be hard for Iggy to get lost without someone to guide him. He could be anywhere. Nudge touched one of the computer keyboards.

"The person who was last on here was angry and upset about something. But they felt comforted by something or someone. Could it be them?" No one answered. None of us had an insight into their relationship. Fang was silent as usual; he was looking at something in a folder frowning slightly.

"What's that Fang?" Nudge asked. He quickly snapped it shut.

"Nothing." He stuffed the folder in his backpack. He was hiding something; I'd ask him about it later.

"I think we should search the area and if we can't find him we'll have to keep looking." I only cared about finding Iggy, I was still convinced that Violet was a spy or something like that. There was something about her; it made me think she was hiding something. I'd investigate that later. We left Itex and started flying around the area.

"What's that?" Angel said pointing in the direction of a stone building surrounded by a tall fence with barbed wire on the top. Outside there were two winged people rising into the air. One had golden wings and the others were a dark black, M-Geeks were coming out of the door as the two flew quickly away from them. They were almost over fence when Violet knocked Iggy off course. He fell down slightly, but Violet jerked back like she'd been hit by something. She started losing height quickly falling, like a rag doll. Iggy heard her fall past him and quickly moved to catch her.

He started flying quickly over the fence and into a nearby group of trees so he was out of sight.

"She got shot." Angel said. "She was knocking Iggy out of the way to save him. She's not waking up. Iggy's panicking."

"Why did she knock him out of the way?" I asked. Why would she try and save him.

"Because she loves him." Angel said this so sincerely that I knew she couldn't be lying. I was forced to admit to myself that I had been wrong. And I hated admitting I was wrong. She genuinely did care about Iggy, he felt the same way. She'd made him happier than I'd ever seen him. And now she was dying.

"Well let's go help them." I made a swift dive down to where I had seen Iggy disappear to. The flock followed. Iggy was bent over Violet, using his hands to stop the bleeding. But blood was seeping out from under them.

"I can't stop it, there's too much." Iggy said sounding like he was in despair. Violets face was a pale white from the blood loss, her eyes, which were so much like Fangs, fluttered. She was waking up. She groaned lightly.

"Violet?" Iggy asked. "Please say something, let me know you're okay." But Violet just coughed up blood violently and her dark eyes shut again.

"She needs to get to a hospital or something." I told Iggy.

"What if she's too weak to move?" he whispered.

"Then we'll just be sitting here watching her die. Keep your hands like that; use your jacket if you need to. Fang and Nudge the three of us are going to lift her. Angel and Gazzy go ahead of us and keep an eye out for a medical centre, anywhere with a doctor." Nudge, Fang and I gently lifted Violet of the ground. Though probably one of us could have lifted her, I wanted to keep her as still as possible and there was less chance go jostling her around if there was three of us. Iggy had taken off his jacket and was keeping it glued to the bullet wound.

We flew awkwardly but as quickly as possible. Gazzy, Angel and Total were in front of us scanning the ground below us.

"There!" Gazzy called pointing at a large white hospital. We landed in the parking lot and carried Violet into the emergency department.

"Oh my god! Someone get a gurney!" called the receptionist and a couple of nurses brought one out.

"Keep the pressure there." One of the nurses told Iggy. We lifted Violet onto the gurney and she was wheeled behind a set of double doors. Iggy went with her still pushing his jacket on the wound.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Nudge asked.

"I don't know." I said in all honesty. "But for Iggy's sake I hope so." The flock all sat on the hard plastic chairs. After about a couple minutes Iggy came out of the double doors. He looked like he was in some sort of hypnotised state oblivious to the hustle and bustle around him.

"Iggy?" Nudge said concernedly. Iggy just sat down in one of the chairs next to Gazzy. He sighed heavily.

"They're preparing her for surgery. I don't know how things are going to turn out." he said flatly and his head in his hands. No one said anything. If there was anything that we could have done to comfort him we would have done it in a heartbeat, but I could tell by the expression on his face that he was best left alone for now. A doctor dressed in surgical scrubs that looked as if they were about do a surgery approached us.

"At the moment Violet is being taken to an OR where she'll be put under general anaesthetic. Firstly does anyone know about her medical history?" everyone except Fang shook their heads.

"I've got a file about it." Fang said producing the manila folder he'd been looking through at Itex headquarters. He handed it over to the doctor.

"Thank you this will be of great help and secondly we've been told that your blood is different than a 100% human. It has nuclei?" We nodded. "She has lost a huge amount of blood and needs so much more. Would one of you be willing to make a donation?" Iggy stood up willingly. So did Fang.

"I'm her brother, I'm best match. Right?" Fang stated. "Its fine Ig, I've got this." Fang and the doctor walked away down the hall. Iggy slumped back on his seat looking lost. I looked around at all the younger flock members. They all hadn't eaten since we set out for Itex headquarters and that had been hours ago. I thought it would be best to find a cafeteria or a vending machine.

"Come on guys lets go and get some food." The younger kids stood up but Iggy stayed glued to his seat. "Are you coming Ig?"

"Not hungry." he said simply.

"You should eat..." I started but he cut me off abruptly.

"I said I wasn't hungry! Stop mothering me!" he snapped. I gestured for the other kids to follow me. There was sign to telling us to turn right to get to the cafeteria.

"Don't feel bad about what Iggy said." Angel piped up. "He just feels guilty. He's blaming himself. He keeps thinking, 'it should be me, it should be me' over and over. But he'll cheer up once Violet's okay." I nodded but didn't say anything. It seemed unlikely that she'd be okay and Iggy knew that. Why else would he act like that? We found the cafeteria. We ordered our food and sat eating at a table in the corner. Fang joined us after a while sliding into a seat next to me.

"Hey, Iggy told me you guys were here." He grabbed a few chips off my plate.

"How was he when you saw him?" I asked. I felt a lot better now that Fang was back. Even if he was eating my food.

"Depressed. He asked me to show him where the OR was and now he's moping around there."

"That can't be good for him."

"I tried to tell him that but he practically bit my head off. I think it's best we let him do what he wants at the moment."

"Yeah I guess." I dropped my voice so the younger kids didn't hear. "I don't think he'll come back from this. If she you know... doesn't make it."

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it... which I hope we don't." We ate the rest of our food and decided to go to wherever Iggy was. We found him pacing up and down a hallway with a sullen, brooding expression on his face. The five of us sat up against a wall and watched him.

**Doctor POV**

Wow. I couldn't believe I was operating on a girl with two percent avian DNA. The differences between her and normal people were numerous making it harder to operate but so far she was stable. Her cardiac walls were a little thinner than normal for some unknown reason so I had to be extra careful about tearing them. I'd try and find out why in the folder that I had been given by her brother later. I cut away some more sinews to get to the bullet. It had missed the heart by inches. She was lucky. If it had perforated her fragile heart she would have been long gone.

"Tweezers." I said to the nurse who handed them to me. I gently pulled out the bullet. I held it up to my eye and examined. Small but deadly. How many people had I lost on the table because of these? I dropped into a waiting metal bowl.

"Okay, let's close up and get the one in the wing." I was about to step aside for one of the interns to stitch her up. Then I heard it. The loud beep that could only mean one thing. I looked at the screen monitoring her heart. She was flat lining.

"Get the crash cart."


	11. Life and Death

**Chapter Eleven- Life or Death**

**Iggy POV**

I paced. Up and down. Because there was no other way to keep my mind of what was going on only rooms away. Violet was dying. She could be dead already. We hadn't had enough time together. I loved her more than anything. If she died I didn't know how I would cope. It just seemed impossible.

"Iggy..." Max began.

"Shut up!" I growled. "Leave me alone." I didn't want any of them to tell me it would be okay or that she'd pull through. I didn't want to hear it. The only reassurance that I wanted was Violet. Her talking to me would be when I would believe that she was going to be okay. I continued my pacing. I felt sick from the antiseptic. I wanted just to run out of the hospital, away from all this anxiety and worry. But if I ran it would take even longer for news to get to me. Whether the news was good or bad I wanted to know it first. Whether it made me the happiest guy alive or made me more depressed than I had ever been in my life. Then I heard the sound of gurney wheels nearing and a familiar flowery smell waft past me. I ran towards it.

"Violet?" I murmured.

"You're the boyfriend?" the doctor asked. The gurney carrying Violet continued down the hallway.

"Yeah, I bought her in." I remembered how much blood there had been. Her faltering heart. The only thing I could hear was deep gasping breathing. I snapped myself back to the present.

"She's stable but in a critical condition. While we were operating her heart stopped beating but we managed to re start it. We don't know what's going to happen and the next twenty-four hours are critical. We're taking her into the ICU."

"Can I be with her?" If she woke up alone in a hospital with a lot of monitors around her she'd freak out.

"Just one person."

"Okay me then." No one argued with that.

"Follow me." the doctor walked away and I followed her footsteps. We walked for what seemed like an eternity to me.

"Can you wait here for a moment? I just need to make sure that all the monitors and equipment are set up correctly."

"Fine." I said. The doctor walk away and I resumed my pacing outside what I presumed to be a doorway. I did this for at least five minutes until I heard the Doctor call me.

"It's Jeff isn't it? You can come inside now." I followed her voice into the room. I had decided to use the name Jeff again, like I had when Fang was in hospital. It must be a thing in their family, getting seriously injured. I thought about how much I wanted to seriously injure Mr Chu, Ter Borcht, Omega and Violet's clone. I felt around for a chair and sat down in it. The bed was right in front of me. I found a familiar hand that had an IV running out the top of it. I held onto it gently. It was a bit of shock to me that she didn't squeeze mine back like she normally did.

"I'm uh blind, can you describe what everything looks like?" I asked trying to dislodge the lump in my throat.

"Sure, she's intubated and on a ventilator to help her breathe. We've got an IV getting fluids into her. We've got her wing that was shot unfolded and stretched out on another bed that we've put beside hers so it can heal easier. If she flat lines again there will be a crash team in here immediately, but if she starts to wake up can you please call for a nurse." I was shocked by the possibility that she could flat line again, I couldn't say anything in reply I simply nodded my head.

"Thanks, I've got some other patients I need to check on, I should be back in an hour or so." I heard footsteps leave the room and I was left alone with Violet. I listened to the sound of the ventilator breathing for her. I wanted to talk to her but I was afraid of sounding like an idiot, sitting there talking to a comatose person. Eventually I swallowed my pride. I talked to her on the off chance that maybe she'd hear it and decide to wake. That was what I needed most.

"Hey, it's me. I don't know if you can hear me. Actually if you can't its kind of a good thing cause I'm gonna say some stupid, soppy lovey-dovey stuff that isn't like me at all. It's just... I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. You shouldn't have had to knock me out off the way and take the bullet yourself. It should have been the other way around. It should be me in that bed dying and you should be the one keeping a bedside vigil.

"I promised you I would get you out of that place alive. Please Violet don't make me break my promise. I need you. If you wake up I'll make sure you never ever get hurt again. I will keep this promise. I'm not going to leave your side until you wake up. I love you." I leaned over and kissed her forehead. I felt her cheek. It was much paler than normal. That scared me.

I sat back in the chair keeping a hold on Violet's hand. I listened to the sound of the ventilator and the blip of the monitors. There were quiet voices outside but it was relatively calm for a hospital. I rested my head on the bed next to Violet's leg. I sat for what felt like hours before the doctor returned. I sat up abruptly when I heard her footsteps enter the room.

"Sorry I took so long we had a patient flat line but unfortunately there was nothing we could do. I've looking at those folders that Violet's brother gave to me, and I've found out why she flat lined."

"Oh really." I was interested to find out about this. If it was in that folder it must be the white coats fault.

"The scientists at Itexicon were using Violet as some sort of guinea pig for their drug trials. She was exposed to different diseases, such as the Spanish influenza, the bubonic plague. They have a full list in the file. However sometime last year, they had given her some disease which hasn't been listed. They gave her antibiotics to take and for some reason she didn't take them. She fell into a coma and was airlifted to the infirmary floor of Itexicon headquarters." That made sense. She said she'd been to Itex headquarters before but changed the subject when I'd asked why.

"So why did that make her flat line?"

"The disease was obviously something that weakened her heart, with the blood loss and the extra strain on her heart, it gave out. If she wakes up, I'll figure out a way to strengthen it. Things are looking better, her heartbeat is stronger."

"That's good." I was still processing the information I had just learnt. Why didn't Violet tell me that she had nearly died. And why hadn't she taken her antibiotics. She had a photographic memory. She couldn't have forgotten to. It must have been deliberate. She had tried to let herself to die. But why? My head was spinning. I heard the sound of a pager beeping.

"Oh crap. I've got to go." The doctor left the room in a hurry. I stroked the top of Violet's hand lightly.

"What are you keeping from me? Come on Violet wake up." I told her gently. I put my head back on the bed. I shut my eyes and let the past sixteen hours catch up with me. I fell asleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*

I awoke to a groaning sound. What was it? I couldn't be... maybe.

"Violet?" I asked and there was a whimpering sound. Obviously she couldn't talk because of the tube helping her breathe. But she could be waking up. I hoped so. It would be hard communicating with her when she couldn't talk and I couldn't see. I grabbed her hand.

"Violet, if you can hear me squeeze my hand." Her hand tightened around mine. I was unable to keep the grin off my face. She was okay. She was alert and almost talking to me. I stood up to call for a nurse. She didn't let my hand go. Obviously she was scared and disoriented for all of the monitors and the ventilator.

"It's okay, I'm just going to get a nurse." I kissed her forehead and she relaxed a little bit. "I'll be right back. I'm so glad your okay." I really was. I kept my promise. Within minutes she'd be up and talking to me the world suddenly seemed a whole lot brighter.

**A/N: Sorry it's so short but I wanted to get it out quickly. Thanks to all the readers and reviewers. The next chapter should be out very soon. **


	12. Honest

**A/N: This is the final proper chapter but there will be an epilogue after this. There is also going to be a yet to be named sequel. I will announce the title of the sequel when I post the epilogue. I hope you enjoy the very long last chapter. A big thank you to all the readers and reviewers. **

**Chapter Twelve- Honest**

**Violet POV**

I woke up from a pleasant dream. It was just Iggy and I lying on that beach together. Every so often he'd tell me something like, _I don't know if you can hear me, _ _It should have been the other way_ _around_ or _Please Violet don't make me break my promise_. I asked him what he meant and he'd just kiss me. It was so peaceful compared to what I woke up to. There was a tube shoved down my throat and I could clearly smell antiseptic. I was in an unfamiliar hospital room. I looked around wildly trying to find something familiar.

Then I found it. Iggy. He was sitting in a chair by my bedside with his head rested on my bed, near my leg, face down. He looked like he was sleeping. I couldn't talk with the tube in my mouth so I groaned loudly to get his attention. He lifted his head up looking confused.

"Violet?" he asked. I whimpered. He grabbed my hand. "Violet if you can hear me, squeeze my hand." I did so. He grinned widely; obviously he'd been worrying about me. He stood up as if he was about to leave. I wouldn't let his hand go. I was terrified of what was going on and I didn't want him to leave my side.

"It's okay; I'm just going to get a nurse." He leaned over and kissed my forehead, it made me relax a little bit. "I'll be right back, I'm glad your okay." He disappeared for a moment and returned with a nurse. She removed the tube from my mouth. It felt good to breathe on my own. She told me that the doctor would be with me shortly and left. Iggy sat back down at my bedside.

"How do you feel?" he asked rubbing my arm.

"Alright, I've been better."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"We were in a cell." He nodded and the memories started coming back to me. "And we tried to escape. My clone... and Omega tried to stop us but you made a bomb. We got out of the door and were nearly over the fence. I was in pain, I got shot and you caught me is that right?"

"Yeah, it is. Do you remember why you got shot?"

"You were in the firing line. I had to get you out of the way." He grimaced slightly.

"You shouldn't have done that." He said this quietly, in a guilty way.

"I couldn't let them shoot you. Don't feel guilty. So that's what you meant by it should have been the other way around."

"You heard that?"

"I dreamed that you and I were lying on that beach together and you said some really random stuff. Did you actually say that?"

"Yeah, I was sitting here talking to you. It was the first time I'd seen you since you got out of surgery. I said some stupid, soppy, lovey dovey stuff."

"Yeah, you said that. I liked it, I was confused but it made me smile. Especially when you told me that you loved me." He stood up so he was face to face with me.

"Well I meant that." he kissed me tenderly and sat back down. Then a female doctor came into my little hospital room.

"Hi Violet, I'm Doctor Parker. I was the one who operated on you." She looked at the monitor that was displaying my vitals. "Your vitals look good. If all goes well you should be out of the ICU later today. Which is a big improvement on how you were about twenty hours ago."

"Why, what happened?" I asked.

"You flat lined." The doctor said simply. Iggy gave me a look that made me feel guilty for some reason, like he'd found out something incriminating about me.

"Oh wow. But I'm okay now?"

"Pretty much, but there are things we still need to discus. There is a possibility of brain damage because of the lack of oxygen to your brain during that time. I'll check in on you later." she left the room.

"I flat lined." I said.

"Yes, you did." Iggy replied.

"Do you know something I don't?"

"Well, I know that for some reason you forgot to take antibiotics for a life threatening disease and you don't forget stuff. Were you trying to kill yourself?" I looked down at my hands not meeting his gaze.

"You don't know the full story. You don't understand."

"Well, can you help me understand?" This was going to take a lot of explaining.

"Before you, there was someone else. I had another boyfriend, Zack, in the school. He was completely human but they were going to alter his DNA at some point. One day at the school, they said I had a new 'roommate' and in came a boy of about my age; I was captivated immediately by his eyes. They were emerald green. When I compare him to you, I can't even think about why I even fell for him, when your personalities are so different. But I did fall for him. Maybe because I was just so desperate for someone to care about me or to have normal human interactions with someone who wasn't a white coat.

"We wanted nothing more than to escape the school. I told him that it had been done before by you guys and that someday we would join you guys. One day at night we tried to escape, but we were met by erasers. They attacked us and I got taken back to my dog crate. I sat awake for hours and hours waiting for him to be bought back. But he never came back. I found out when an eraser came to gloat." I covered my face with my hands. I couldn't stop the tears from falling. I felt someone move up onto the bed beside me and carefully wrapped their arms around me. I took a deep breath before I tried to continue.

"I gave up on life after that. They gave me some disease and I just decided to let myself die. But they saved me. I kept going. I made the escape on my own and I found you and you made everything better. I'm happy again because of you. And I think I love you more than I did him." I said this through tears. I cried into Iggy's shoulder as he patiently sat there with his arms around me whispering words of comfort in my ear. I don't know how long we sat there for but at the end of it, I finally felt like I had gotten over Zack's death, I was fully healed. All of a sudden I felt tired and started yawning.

"You should go to sleep. I'll stay with you." Iggy murmured to me. After everything I had told him in the last hour, I felt like there should be one final secret I should share with him.

"I've got something else to tell you."

"Tell me when you wake up."

"No, no, it's important." My speech was slurred with tiredness. "They made you blind intentionally, at the school. It wasn't an accident, it was an experiment. To see if they could improve your other senses then fix your sight." As soon as I got that final word out, I fell asleep.

*~*~*~*~*

I woke up in a new room. This one was brighter and sunnier than the ICU room. I wasn't hooked up to a monitor anymore but the IV was still there. Iggy was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room listening to an I-pod.

"Hey," I said, he looked up and pulled out the ear buds.

"Hey, you're in a ward now. They moved you when you were asleep."

"Oh that's good. The ICU was freaky. This place is much nicer."

"True but this ward has visiting hours."

"Aww, did they kick you out. Aren't you allowed to sleep here anymore?"

"They did, I had to leave overnight."

"Well I'm glad. Although I would love to have you here night and day. It really can't be healthy for you to spend all of your time here."

"It's not healthy for me to be away from you."

"Stop being cheesy. So you've left the hospital."

"Yes, they kicked me out when they were moving you and told me I wasn't allowed back until eight o'clock the next morning. The Flock have rented out hotel room so I went there. I ate, showered and slept. Oh and I made a bomb."

"Of course you did."

"Stress-release."

"So did you think about that thing I told you, just before I fell asleep?"

"Yeah, I did."

"And..."

"At first I was angry."

"I know, I should have told you earlier. I'm sorry."

"Oh no, Violet. Not at you of course. At the white coats. But then I kind of accepted it because, they said it was fixable. So maybe, someday in the future, I can find someone who can help me see again."

"I'm glad about that." my chest suddenly started to ache. I took in a breath sharply. It was really painful.

"Are you okay?" Iggy asked immediately sanding up.

"Um... yeah it's just a little sore." I cringed gritting my teeth.

"Do you want me to get a nurse, they can give you painkillers."

"No I'll be alright." I squeaked because the pain was getting worse. "Okay fine."

"I'll just be a minute." He went out the door and returned with the nurse. She was holding a syringe that immediately made me squeamish. I tensed.

"Okay Violet, I'll just put some morphine through your IV." She injected it straight into my IV tube.

"Call if you need more." she told us before leaving

"See, that wasn't that bad." Iggy told me dragging his chair closer to the bed and sitting back down in it. Then the morphine hit me. It was immediately relaxing.

"No, it feels much better."

"Good. No need for you to be a masochist." I stared up at his lips thinking about how much I would like him to kiss me.

"I really want you to kiss me." I blurted out. It was like I had lost the filter between my brain and my mouth. He gave me a strange look.

"I shouldn't be taking advantage of you, while you're high."

"I'm not high, and please take advantage of me."

"Okay, I'll kiss you then." He leaned over me and pushed his lips up against mine. God, I loved him.

"God, I love you."

"You really are high aren't you?" He pulled away from me. No, I didn't want him to do that.

"Kiss me properly. Get up on the bed, make out with me." I insisted pulling at his shirt giggling. And I rarely ever giggle.

"I really shouldn't. The nurse told me off last time I got on the bed."

"The nurses aren't here are they? Please Iggy. I nearly died. Let's live life now."

"You'll regret this when the morphine wears off. You'll be angry at me."

"No, I won't. I could never be angry at you. I promise. Come on you know you want to. I'll make it worth your while." He sighed and started climbing up on the bed. I grinned.

"I'm going to be in so much trouble for doing this." he said to himself before kissing me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kicked away the scratchy blankets so my legs were free. I really didn't know what was compelling me to do this but I just went with it.

"Oh my!" Exclaimed a nurse. Iggy jumped off me quickly.

"We... um... er." He stammered going a bright red. The nurse left hurriedly. I started laughing hysterically.

"You look so stupid." I snorted.

"You're as high as kite." He said shaking his head.

"No, I'm not." I protested still laughing.

"Settle down. If you keep acting like this they won't let me visit you anymore. Come on let's watch a movie, maybe if you sit still for awhile, It might wear off a bit." I saw him pull a couple of DVDs off the bedside table. He put them on the bed in front of me. "Nudge got them for us. Read them out to me."

"Okay, there is Pearl Harbor, Titanic and the notebook."

"Typical Nudge, hmm well Pearl Harbor has war and bombs, so that one." He went over to the TV that was up against a wall and mucked around with it for awhile. He handed the remote to me and sat back down in the chair.

"No, sit with me." I told him.

"I don't trust you not to try and make out with me. I want to actually be allowed to visit you without the nurses kicking me out."

"Oh _come_ on. I won't." I shuffled over to make room for him. Giving me an exasperated look, he sat down beside and put an arm around me; I rested my head on his chest and pushed play on the remote. I enjoyed the movie even though anytime there would some sort of explosion or gunshot Iggy would ask me to describe what was going on. I didn't really mind.

"That was nice." I said as the credits started rolling.

"Yeah, those explosions sounded awesome, I wish I could have seen them."

"Maybe someday."

"Yeah hopefully. You seemed to have come off your high a little bit."

"I wasn't high."

"How else do you explain wanting to make out with me on the bed and the laughing fit?"

"Shut up."

"Is that the best retort you've got? You've lost your touch since we were being guarded by the two human robots."

"Oh yeah, that was fun. My favourite was when you asked them about them repopulating the world with perfect babies."

"I liked it when you told them to leave so we could make out. What did you say exactly?"

"I can't remember. I just know it was something along those lines." As soon as the words left my mouth, I gasped, realising what had happened. I tried and tried to remember but I couldn't.

"You've forgotten." Iggy said blankly, looking at me worriedly. "But you don't forget things, you have a photographic memory."

"The doctor said something about brain damage. Maybe this is it."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It turned out that my photographic memory was gone. I still had an above average memory but after a series of test done on me by a neurologist it was found not to be perfect anymore. To be honest I wasn't that sorry to see the back of it. Sure, it came in handy with all those Itex passwords and memorising maps but bad memories never faded. I was able start forgetting everything that had happened before I meet Iggy. Because that was when my life really started. The girl who was a prisoner of the school, who was so lost in grief that she nearly killed herself, was a completely different person to the girl who fell in love with a blind pyromaniac.

Iggy stayed with me at the hospital until eight o'clock when visiting hours were over. He was back again in the morning when I woke up. I was discharged from hospital that afternoon. I went to the hotel where the Flock was staying. It was an awkward reunion, but I was determined to try and get along with them. They were Iggy's family and Fang was my brother. It was unconventional but I still had to try. And I was sort of succeeding. I spent a few days recuperating in Florida, before the Flock and I flew back to Arizona because the flying, talking dog Total was getting married. As weird as a dog wedding was, I had long learnt to accept that weird was a part of life. Well, my life at least.


	13. Epilogue: Me and You

**A/N: Okay here's the epilogue. The sequel will be called **_**Feel the rain. **_**I'll post an announcement here when I post the first chapter which should be before Friday. **

**Thank all you so much for reading and reviewing.**

**Epilogue- Me and You**

I was standing around in a crowd of people I had never met. While wearing a skirt. And high heels. Not my favourite thing in the world to do. I was hanging around waiting for this crazy wedding to start. Iggy and the Flock was a part of the wedding party. I had spent all day just hanging around looking for something to do because Iggy was busy helping Total or cooking. As the only non member of wedding party in the house, I had absolutely nothing to do. I was so bored I actually curled my hair. Nudge had left a hair curler on in the bathroom and out of boredom I curled one bit of hair, then another, then another until my whole hair was in dark ringlets. It didn't look all that bad.

The wedding was being held in a wide open park. The Arizonian sun was beating down on me. I was anxiously waiting for Iggy to arrive. I hadn't seen him in his tux yet and I was very curious to how he would look. And kind of missing him. A young red headed woman came up to me.

"Hi, you must be Fang's sister. You look so similar. I'm Bridget Dwyer. I work for the CSM." She introduced herself extending a hand to me. I shook it hesitantly. There was something untrustworthy about her.

"Um yeah, I'm Violet." Thankfully a car arrived then so I didn't have to talk to her. Iggy, Gazzy, Fang and Total stepped out. Iggy looked amazing. He looked kind of like a secret agent. All dressed up in a black suit and white shirt plus he was wearing sunglasses. I had never seen him dressed up nicely and I liked what I was seeing. We started getting ushered into seats as the four of them made their way to the front. I watched Iggy while we waited for the wedding to start. He was laughing around with Gazzy about something. I loved how he looked when he laughed, so carefree and happy.

Another car pulled up and Max, Nudge, Angel and Akila came out. They all looked lovely, but even I could tell that Max was annoyed about having to wear a dress. The ceremony was beautiful, but it was all in barks except for what the celebrant was saying so I couldn't really follow as I didn't speak dog – sorry Canine-American. It was so obvious that the celebrant was weirded out by having to perform a dog wedding.

At the end of the wedding after Akila and Total had been pronounced husband and wife and ran off down the aisle into one of the cars, I started walking up to where Iggy was standing. He heard my footsteps and started walking over to me.

"It's creepy how you can do that, identifying me by my footsteps." I said lacing my fingers through his.

"I know you footsteps better than anyone else's." I tripped because of the high heels. Iggy caught me by the arm.

"Alright there?"

"Yeah, it's the high heels." He wrapped his arms around my waist. He ran his fingers through my hair and frowned.

"Your hair feels different."

"Yeah, I um curled it." he laughed.

"I can't imagine you curling your hair."

"I was so bored; you were too busy to spend time with."

"Okay, I'm sure it looks beautiful." He kissed me.

"So, should we head to this reception thing?" Iggy kissed me again, harder this time.

"No, let's skip it and stay here and do this."

"But you're a groomsman. You've gotta make a speech don't you. Come on we'll walk together."

"Walk?"

"I am so not flying in a skirt. I can't get my wings out of this, and I don't think you can do that with your suit."

"Okay, let's go. Better than taking a car."

"Oh hold on." I took off the heels. I didn't want to trip again. I held Iggy's hand in one hand and my shoes in other. We wandered through the streets talking and laughing together. When we got to the hall where the reception was being held. I put my shoes back on and took Iggy's sunglasses off him.

"Why are you taking them off?" he moaned.

"Because, even though it makes no difference to you, you're going to look like a bit of an idiot, wearing sunglasses inside. Well more of an idiot than usual." I teased putting the sunglasses in the inside of his jacket.

"Oh you're so kind." He said this sarcastically but he slung an arm around me, so I knew he wasn't too annoyed with me. We walked inside together. The party had already started. Humans were eating finger foods and the dogs were eating... well dog food. I lead Iggy over to a plate of food and we grabbed some. We stood around chatting to the flock while we waited for the speeches to start. Finally the emcee asked everyone to be seated. Iggy had to go sit at the main table so he kissed me goodbye and followed the others up to the front table and I sat at a table with more people whom I had never met before. I was glad to find that the red headed scientist Bridget Dwyer was sitting far away from me. As I said before I just didn't like her for some reason. To avoid talking to the strangers I pretended to be very interested in the speeches. I ended up having not to fake my interest. They were quite entertaining.

"I hope you guys have lots and lots of puppies." Angel said. Then as an afterthought she tacked on, "Max, where do babies come from?" Laughter rang throughout the hall. Iggy kept with that kind of theme by using a whole lot of innuendoes. He finished his speech by saying.

"Seriously all jokes aside I'm happy for you guys. Good luck and I hope the honeymoon is filled with hotdogs if you know what I mean." He ducked off the stage chuckling to himself while Total glared at him. I shook my head and laughed. I wasn't shocked at all. It was exactly what I expected from him. Fang delivered the shortest speech in known history.

"Congratulations." He said simply and sat down. There were murmurs of confusion and some awkward claps. Max's speech was one of the nicest.

"Total, I used to think you were so annoying and a massive burden to carry from place to place but you grew on me. I speak for everyone when I say I'm happy for you. Both of you." There were lots of awws after that. I may or not have done one. After the speeches came the food. Because the fact that there were seven avian-Americans here who needed like three times the amount of food that other people do, meant that they was a lot of food. And it was good food. There wasn't enough room on my plate. Iggy ditched the top table after his first helping and came to sit in a seat beside me, whose owner had just vacated. He had an overflowing plate with him.

"Did you like my speech?" He asked grinning widely.

"I loved it. I don't think Total did though." I replied.

"Really? Well that means mission accomplished. Are you having a good time?"

"All the much better now that you're here." We ate and talked until Akila and Total had their first dance. It was kind of funny seeing to dogs dancing. The kind of thing you'd want to put on YouTube. Like keyboard cat. I saw Nudge and Angel trying to persuade Max and Fang to dance together. Good luck to them.

"Come on you, let's dance." Iggy told me. He pulled me to my feet.

"What the hell Iggy?" I asked.

"You see Violet, if we dance I've got an excuse to make out with you so..."

"Is that the only thing on your mind?"

"What do you think?"

"Of course it is. Sorry, I must of forgotten who you were for a moment." I lead him onto the dance floor. We kept to our own little section of the dance floor not moving that far. Nudge and Angel were eventually successful on their endeavours to get Max and Fang to dance and they waltz past us once or twice. They were actually quite good. I told Iggy this.

"Excellent, I can use that against Fang or by his new name twinkle-toes later." he said happily.

"Do you enjoy making fun of people?"

"Violet. This _is_ me we're talking about right? I mean first you ask if the only thing on my mind is making out with you, when clearly it is all I ever think about. And now you question my enjoyment of making fun of people. Do you even know me?"

"I love this."

"What do you love?"

"I love that we have such I strong relationship that we can make fun of each other and to get offended."

"Well that's the secret to life isn't it being able to laugh about yourself."

"I've been in love before and it was nothing like the joking relationship we have."

"That's why we are going to last. It's always going to be a me and you. No matter what."

"No matter what." I agreed. Iggy leaned down and kissed me as we danced together. Despite all that had happened in my life, I trusted him enough to know that his words were true. There always would be a me and him.


	14. Sequal

**Just a quick to note to say that the sequel is up. You can find the link on my profile page and as I said before it's called feel the rain. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the sequal. **


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